Change of Heart
by kitsuneshadow47
Summary: After Sasuke is rejected once again by his strict father, he finally decides to run away. No one cared about him or even gave a damn...but little did he know about the life-changing journey that lay ahead of him...what has fate left out for him? SasuNaru.
1. Chapter 1: Running Away

**~Change of Heart~**

_**Chapter 1: Running Away**_

**Pairing: **SasuNaruSasu

**Genre: **Friendship/Romance (and drama)

**Warnings: **YAOI, some violence/child abuse, cursing, OOC

**Notes from the KIT-chan XD: **Okay—so I'm in a hotel at Rochester, NY for my little brother's swim meet (Eastern Zone Short Course Championships, they call it XD). As usual, I was bored as hell and had absolutely nothing better to do but daydream and flip through the channels on TV. So I come across the HBO HD channel and saw that they were playing **"Changeling". **You know, that movie with Angelina Jolie where she like loses her son and the police like claim to have found him and try to return him to her, but Angelina argues that it's not her son and gets thrown into the nuthouse for challenging police authority n.n" …and then there's this guy who claims to have murdered like 20 boys on his little torture ranch or something and Jolie's son was presumed to be one of them = / Anyway—I saw this movie for like the first time and I found it to be really interesting. So the movie's done and I'm just sitting there…when all of a sudden, this giant plot bunny like jumps into my head and mercilessly rapes my brain O///O …hey—Easter Sunday…haha XD My brain getting raped by the Easter bunny XDDDDDDDDDD HILARIOUS! XD Anyway...hope you like this for my first multi-chapter fic evah! X3 (fireworks exploding) Yup! That's right! This is my first multichapter so pleeeeaaaaasssssseee let meh know what you think at the end or otherwise I'll never write a multi-chapter again...

.

.

Just kidding! XD But please--I am serious about you letting meh know what you think of this for the first chapter. ^_^

Okie I'll shut up now! XDDDDDDD On with the story! X3

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

**Disclaimer: **Nope—don't own Naruto…or Changeling ^^"

* * *

Once upon a time on the countryside of Konoha, there was a short, raven-haired boy named Sasuke Uchiha. He lived on a big farm with his rich family and was the younger of two siblings, having one older brother named Itachi, who seemed to always be the favorite in the family (especially his father, Fugaku). This often caused problems in the family, for Fugaku would always favor Itachi over Sasuke, and would scold him a lot more than an average parent—up to the point where he would end up beating poor Sasuke for every single mistake he made so far in his eleven-year-old life, in the hopes that this would teach the boy a lesson and bring him up to becoming just like his older sibling. However, this did just the opposite, and later on, Sasuke ended up hating his father for the pain he caused him. He also hated his older sibling for being the cause of his misery, but at the same time, he unconditionally loved Itachi, not just because of their strong brotherly bonds, but for the times when he would stand up for Sasuke whenever Fugaku would go too far. In addition, he loved his mother, Mikoto, who always did stay at his side and care for him, no matter the issue. But even this…couldn't stop the unfortunate event that happened on June 20, 1922.

It was bright and sunny that day--ironic, yes? Anyway, let's get back on track. It was a day when the two Uchiha brothers had come home from school, report cards in hand. Sasuke was literally sprinting to his home, excited to show his father the straight A's he had received on his first report card of the year. He worked extra-hard this time, hoping that his father would give him at least a few words of acknowledgement.

On the other hand, Itachi was…well…sulking behind his younger sibling and taking his time. It just so happened that this marking period, Itachi really didn't do that well in Trigonometry (he got an F—let's leave it at that ^^" and…let's just say…triangles are like number two on his late list—so yeah n.n").

So here we go. Sasuke was er…in his father's face, waving the small yellow sheet of paper in his hand.

"Father? Did I do well this time?"

But Fugaku only grinned and shifted his gaze towards his favorite son. This upset the younger raven a little, and stood there, sulking and glaring at his older sibling.

"Itachi."

The latter looked up. "Yes, Father?"

Fugaku extended his arm out to retrieve the report card. Itachi hesitated, and reluctantly placed the small piece of paper in his father's hand.

Fugaku ran his finger down the card and scanned it.

This made Sasuke even more upset. He pulled at his father's sleeve.

"Father…" the younger Uchiha whined.

"Hm." Fugaku grunted. "What is it, Sasuke?"

The latter pouted. "How come you always pay more attention to _Itachi's _grades? I've got good grades, too, you know…"

No response.

"Sasuke," Itachi whispered, nudging his little brother's shoulder.

"Hmph," he pouted again.

"_**Itachi," **_Fugaku called sternly.

The latter looked up.

"What…is _this?_"

Itachi opened his mouth to speak, but no words could come out.

"_Itachi._"

"…"

Sasuke turned to look at his brother, whose head was drooping at this very moment. Then he shifted his eyes towards his father, whose face was flushing redder every second that passed.

Fugaku exhaled sharply, then scratched his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you have _any _idea at all…_why _I'm even sending you to this school? Do you know _how _much money your mother and I have to spend _every _year on _your _tuition?"

"…"

"…_well?"_

"…"

Fugaku Uchiha sighed and scratched his head again. "…and…this…_this _is what you give me in return?"

"…"

"…Itachi…you _know _perfectly well that in the future, _you _will become the leader of this family, do you understand me?"

"…"

_Big brother… _Sasuke thought, taking pity on poor Itachi, and looked again at his angry father.

"Itachi…_answer me."_

"…"

"…_**Itachi Uchiha**_—I need answers…_now."_

The younger raven shifted his gaze alternatively from his infuriated father to his sulking older brother. He frowned. It wasn't fair that his father always had to put so much pressure on his older brother, especially because he _always _worked twice as hard as he did every day. …and then…it wasn't even fair that Sasuke worked hard as well, to try to share the burden with Itachi…and yet…never got any appreciation for it…from his father, that is.

"**ITACHI."**

"…"

At this point, Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and stood between his older brother and his father. This _really _wasn't fair.

"That's enough!" the younger raven yelled.

Fugaku and Itachi froze, and looked down at Sasuke.

"You've already put Big Brother through so much!"

Itachi's eyes widened. "Sasuke…"

"NO!" the younger Uchiha shouted. "I'm sick of all this! It's always Itachi this and Itachi that! Do you even have any idea how Itachi _feels? _Or how _I _feel?" He clenched his fists and exhaled sharply. "And you _never _pay attention or appreciate _anything _I do! _NEVER! _Even if I dug up a gold mine right now, it'd be stupid _Itachi__," _He panted, then continued. "But you know what you _do _pay attention to? …my _screw-ups. _Every single one of them. And then…and then…you'd _hit __**me**_**, **your youngest son, any time I made one, no matter how damn small…"

Itachi looked at his younger sibling with a solemn expression on his face, then looked up at his father, who couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing from Sasuke. All the man was doing now…was _staring _at his youngest son, not moving a muscle.

"Sasuke…" Itachi muttered again, reaching his arm out to comfort his younger brother. But he stopped when Sasuke suddenly whipped his head up to glare straight into his father's eyes. "How could you do this to me!? What kind of father are you!? I—"

Slap. All were silent and immobile. Itachi was staring at his father, eyes bulging—the same with Mikoto (Sasuke's mother), who had just come into the room to find out what was causing all this commotion. Fugaku was staring at his hand, which was now bright pink from the impact, his mouth gaping.

Sasuke was on the floor, his eyes bulging as well and his mouth gaping. He slowly placed his hand on his numb cheek, which was now swollen and an angry red. Then, he paused and stared at his father.

There was silence in the room, until finally...it was broken.

"Sasuke…" Fugaku muttered, still astonished by what he'd just done.

Suddenly, the young raven stood up and sprinted out of the house.

"Sasuke!" Itachi shouted.

No response.

The young Uchiha only continued to run faster and deeper into the forest in front of him. He never looked back.

~O~

Sasuke panted. At this time, he had almost reached the heart of the woods.

_I don't need them, _he thought to himself. _I don't need any of them! _He closed his eyes and sprinted even faster…until he bumped into something…or _someone. _

"Hey! Watch where you're goin', kid!" a gruff voice spoke.

The young raven panted and gasped for air, then looked up at the one who had spoken.

It was a tall, burly man, dressed in farmer's clothing: overalls with what looked like a handmade cowboy hat. His muscles were about as big as watermelons, and his face was covered in a scarlet red bandanna, only revealing eyes that were almost as black as Sasuke's, although there was something…different about them.

"Hey—you all right, kid?"

Sasuke was speechless, too shocked and surprised to even speak a word. "Uh…"

Suddenly, the man smiled, his black eyes gleaming. "Hey—wait a sec—you're an Uchiha, aren't you?"

The raven gulped. He really didn't know how to respond to this guy, more or less because he was a stranger. All he could do was slowly nod.

"Heh…I see—Fugaku's son, aren't ya?"

"Uh…huh…"

"Hm…I see. From the looks of it, you must be the youngest, right? Running away, aren't ya?"

…_how did he know that? …oh no…he's probably one of Father's co-workers…he'll take me back there for sure…shoot…what do I do?_

Before the young Uchiha could reply, the man raised his hand. "Say no more, kid." And at that moment, he lightly touched Sasuke's swelling cheek. "…huh. Should put some ice on that, eh? What happened here? …you, uh…fall on your face or something?

…_no… _Sasuke thought—and at the same time, _that _memory popped back to the surface of his mind. Immediately, the raven clenched his fists and he winced. "…I—"

The young Uchiha stopped mid-sentence when the man placed his hand on his right shoulder. He looked down at the raven with a solemn expression on his face. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, kid." The man then shifted his eyes towards the direction where Sasuke had come from.

Suddenly, the man bent down to hug the young Uchiha, which had caught him off-guard. Sasuke's eyes widened. After a few minutes, he finally pulled back to look at the latter. "Sorry about that, kid. Just get a little emotional there, you know?"

The raven gulped.

The man smiled. "Anyway, what kind of gentleman am I?" He extended his hand. "…name's Norbert Kyuubi, but you can call me Kyuubi. Put 'er there, kid."

Sasuke hesitated, then shook his hand.

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. "Well…you got a name, kid?"

"…Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha,"

"Heh—glad to meet ya, Sasuke Uchiha—or would you prefer just _Sasuke?_"

The raven couldn't help but smile a little. "…just Sasuke."

Kyuubi smirked. "Well, Sasuke—I must say you got a lotta spunk there running away from your parents like that…they didn't hurt ya or anything, did they?"

The young Uchiha's slight smile suddenly turned into a frown. He shifted his eyes down towards his feet.

Kyuubi raised the raven's chin with his thumb and stared at him with that same solemn expression on his face. "…say no more, kid—I understand you ya feel." He then gestured behind him, pointing to a bright red pickup truck the color of his bandanna. "How's about you come with me for a while, you know—till your folks cool off?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, until Kyuubi broke in again. "And don't you worry your little head—it's perfectly safe back at my ranch."

"…"

Suddenly, Kyuubi grinned again, his black eyes gleaming once more, but Sasuke didn't notice. "..and besides…got even a few kids down there who'd really enjoy a new playmate. I'd really appreciate it if you'd come down at least to join us for supper, especially since you're…an _Uchiha _and all." He chuckled to himself. "It would really help my self-image…"

The raven raised an eyebrow, confused by that last remark.

The masked man stopped laughing and looked back at the young Uchiha. "Whoops—sorry, got lost there in my train of thought—hehehe—I kinda tend to do that a lot…" He scratched his head. "Anyway, you gonna come along? Don't worry a bit—your parents won't hurt ya no more, and I won't say a word to them about you."

Sasuke pondered for a minute. _Well…he doesn't really look that hostile…and he __**did **__say he had kids back at his home, so he must be a father as well…I guess it's safe to come along with him, and he __**did **__say it was just until everything's okay again at home… _The raven sighed and kicked a pebble at his feet. _Besides…maybe he'll actually understand me…or even __**appreciate **__me for what I do… _And upon thinking that, the young Uchiha looked back at Kyuubi.

"…all right."

Kyuubi grinned and put his arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "Well then—we better get going. It's getting late, you know." He turned to smile at the raven, who slightly smiled back.

The two turned to walk in the direction of the sinking sun.

* * *

**Notes from the KIT-chan XD: **…again, I warn you all about ehh…_some _OOC here and there ^^" (Don't mock meh! X3). But yeah…this is only the beginning, so if that didn't interest you that much…you just wait for the second and third chapter. …ohh…you just _wait_… OwO

.

.

Ja ne! ^~^ Please let meh know what you think! (It would really encourage me to post more so if I don't get any reviews for this...ehh...I'll just think of it as an epic fail ^^" Just kidding! But seriously...PLEEEEEAAAASSSSSEEE REVIEW! :bows: XD)

.::~*Kitsune*~::.


	2. Chapter 2: The Sickening Truth

_**Chapter 2: The Sickening Truth**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **If the first chapter didn't woo you at all, wait till you read this one XD Just wanted to say this one thing—OOH! Sasuke spoke to a stranger! *wags finger side to side* :sigh: Well—better get on with it. I must warn you…that this is what happens when you talk to strangers with bandannas covering their faces O.O ...and possible pedophiles. n.n"

**Warnings: **Ehh…child abuse and bad-mouth language in this chapter n.n" Let me just say this…poor Sasuke… T.T

* * *

At first, it was all random conversations between the two—mostly Sasuke literally bombarding Kyuubi with all sorts of questions about his ranch.

"Is it big?" (not like that, you pervert--what WERE you thinking? XD)

"Yup—almost bigger than your farm back there."

"Do you own any farm animals?"

"Some—got a dog...named Okami."

"Really?"

"...yup."

"What kind of crops do you grow over there?"

"Oh…some tomatoes and corn here and there. By the way, I've got a whole patch of potatoes growin' in the back—might I tell you, they come in really handy sometimes."

Sasuke was a little puzzled by that last comment, but continued to ask, even more curious.

"Is it hot over there?"

"Uh…no. But it's really cold over there."

"…oh."

"But don't worry—I got a big fireplace in my house that keeps us all toasty warm every night."

The raven smiled. "Okay."

"…so…" Sasuke thought, running out of questions to ask. "…how many kids do you have over there?"

Kyuubi's black eyes gleamed again, but Sasuke didn't notice. "Oh, I got about 10 of them."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. "Really? That's a lot of kids you have, Kyuubi. Are they all yours, or are some of them adopted?"

"…eh…they're all adopted. Except one, that is. He's mine…definitely mine." Suddenly, the older man's fists tightened a little, but the raven still didn't notice.

"Oh…" Sasuke said absently, trying to picture that one boy. Suddenly, he turned back to Kyuubi.

"…hey, Kyuubi?"

"…yeah, kid?"

"…will I have fun there?"

The masked man pursed his lips, his eyes gleaming even more (yet Sasuke still didn't notice). "Oh...you will. Don't you worry your little head about that. _Tons _of fun." He glanced back only to see the grin on the young raven's face.

~O~

For the next few hours, it was quiet, for Sasuke had finally run out of questions to ask the older man. At the same time, it was getting dark, and night was approaching quite ominously upon them.

Suddenly, the truck came to a halt, and there was dead silence between the two.

Sasuke looked out the now damp window, but it was too dark to really see anything. The truth was…there wasn't really much to see.

The young Uchiha squinted as much as his eyes could, only to see what looked like an old, white house that needed a paint job, as well as thick wiring surrounding it. In the distance, he could also see a small, beat-up shack a few feet next to it, its paint peeling from the walls.

This was not at all what the raven was expecting. And from looking at the sinister-looking shack, chills actually began to ride down his spine.

"…uh…Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked with a confused voice.

No response.

This definitely didn't look anything like what the masked man had described to him. He turned back towards the latter, who was still giving him the cold shoulder.

"…are you sure this is the right place?" the raven continued, with a bit of worry sneaking into his voice.

Silence.

"…you didn't get lost or anything, did you?"

"…"

"…Kyuubi?"

Suddenly, the masked man opened the car door and jumped out. He slammed the door behind him.

Sasuke cringed. _What was going on?_

Before the young raven could even think, the door flipped open behind him and Kyuubi had immediately yanked him out of the car, his hands clenched around the Uchiha's arms. The latter winced at how tightly the older man was clutching him, pain pierciing into his pale arms. "Hey…what...what are you doing?"

"…you'll see."

Sasuke now had a worried expression on his face. _…__**what was going on?**_

The two walked until they reached the front of the wired gate with a padlock chained around its handles.

Kyuubi let go of one of Sasuke's arms to reach into his pocket for the keys and unlock the gate. But his other hand was still tight around the raven's right arm.

The Uchiha bit his lip and looked towards the shack one more time. He was getting a bad feeling about this…and this was actually the first time anxiety ever had an impact on the young raven.

Finally, the masked man had unlocked the gate and pulled Sasuke inside.

Suddenly, the raven let out a gasp. Turned out that there was a _lot_ that he missed at his first glance from the foggy window of the truck, but now…he could see _everything, _**in detail. **

Skeletons were scattered around the beat-up shack, around every corner, and blood stains were splattered all over the walls. But it didn't stop there. A few inches from the door, he could see an old tree stump…with a rusty, blood-stained axe piercing its very top.

The horrifying sight made the poor Uchiha shudder. _This isn't at all what Kyuubi told me about…this is a…a…__**nightmare! **_And when the masked man began to lead him towards the grotesque shack, Sasuke began to struggle, trying as hard as he could to pull free of Kyuubi's tight grasp. But this only made the masked man hold on tighter to the young raven's arms, up the point where his nails were already digging into his pale skin.

Sasuke shivered. He began to scream as loud as he could and cry for help—from _anyone_, anyone at all, trying even harder to break free. The young Uchiha kicked the masked man's legs repeatedly and bit his arm, but Kyuubi only continued to drag him towards the shack relentlessly.

Soon, they were in front of the dilapidated shack, and Sasuke was still kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs. Immediately, Kyuubi wrapped his arms around the young Uchiha and picked him up, kicking the door open to reveal…pitch-black darkness.

Sasuke screamed even louder, but the masked man only smirked, his cold-black eyes gleaming.

"Hey, kiddies! We got a new playmate to join us now!" Kyuubi laughed raucously, his voice echoing in the darkness.

Suddenly, the masked man jerked the young Uchiha inside, slamming the door behind him. After walking a few steps, he flipped on a light switch, revealing 10 frightened kids almost his age—Kyuubi's…_children. _

The children began to yell and run after the towering masked man, but he only reached into his pocket to pull out a gun. "Shut it!" There was immediate silence.

Kyuubi smirked. "…there we go. Now then…"

Sasuke shivered again and looked at each of the petrified children, their clothing tattered and dirty. But somehow…a few of them looked…familiar to him. He shifted his eyes to the right to see two young boys standing in the corner.

_Hold on a second… _the Uchiha thought. _Isn't that Neji Hyuga, the kid from next door who went missing last month? …and that other kid…the one who'd always come over to visit him…Gaara, was he? …he went missing a few days later… _He looked back at the rest of the kids, some of them literally **trembling **in fear. Sasuke gulped. _These kids aren't Kyuubi's children…they…they're his **hostages!**_

"Kid…" a small voice whispered softly to the raven.

Sasuke shifted his eyes to see a short, tan boy about his age, with bushy blonde hair and whiskers on his cheeks. He was looking at him nervously with big, blue eyes. "Run…get out of here while you still can…!" He slightly lifted his finger.

The raven glanced back in the direction where the blonde was pointing and saw a faint beam of light shining towards him. He squinted to see that the door was slightly ajar, then quickly glanced up to see the temporarily distracted Kyuubi, rambling on to his 10 hostages. Sasuke glanced back to the blue-eyed boy, who looked even more anxious than before.

"...hurry!" the blonde whispered, a bit more anxiety in his tone.

The raven hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly. He was about to slowly pull his slightly swollen arm away from the masked man's grasp and escape when…

"OI!" Kyuubi shouted, pulling the Uchiha's arm. "…and where the hell do you think you're goin'? Eh, kid?"

Sasuke stiffened and looked up at the masked man. "…uh…"

"…kick his shin and run…out through the back fence..." the voice whispered again, in a softer tone.

Suddenly, Kyuubi shifted his glare and looked straight at the blonde-haired boy who had attempted to help the raven escape.

"Hey! Did I just _hear _something from you, twerp?"

The blonde froze, then shook his head violently.

"Oh…is that so?"

The masked man immediately pushed Sasuke towards the group of children. "Get in there!" Then, he turned and instantly grabbed the blonde by the arm.

"N-no!" the blue-eyed boy whimpered, his eyes widening as he shrank back into the wall behind him.

Kyuubi smirked. "Aw, c'mon…don't be such a baby." He turned to exit the shack, his hand still clenched tightly around the tan arm.

"Get away!" the blonde wailed, struggling to break free.

But the masked man only chuckled sinisterly and picked him up, his arms and legs flapping violently.

"Let go of me!" the boy shouted. "Let go!" He turned towards the rest of the children, his big, blue eyes desperately pleading. But at that moment, the door slammed in front of him, echoing throughout the whole shack.

There was immediate silence.

Sasuke gulped, his bulging eyes never leaving the closed door. Then, after a few minutes, he turned to look at the 9 remaining children behind him, who at the moment, had terrified and worried expressions on their faces. Then, they turned to look at the young raven standing before them.

The Uchiha shivered, feeling goosebumps forming at the back of his pale neck. _So this was what he meant by it being so cold… _He stared back at the young children, who still looked anxious to even speak a word.

* * *

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **…wow…you feel that chill down your spine yet? ^.^"; Gee...poor Naru... n.n" Well—I'm sort of running out of things to say here, so…oh wait—XD …yeah…if you don't feel doing it right now… (not in that way, you pervert XDDD) …you don't HAVE to review for EVERY single one of the chapters in this story…that is, unless, you're REALLY enjoying it so far ^^" (and I do hope you are XD) …or if somehow I lose my momentum and start losing my enthusiasm to post more (^^" and I hope I don't XD) Anyway—if you wanna save it all till the very end and start bombarding meh with big reviews, you may do that if you like XD Tell you the truth, that's kinda what I do all the time with multi-chaptered fics ^^" if they're uh…finished XD Till then, stay tuned for da next chapter! ^^

***note--**at this particular moment in time, I am getting huge mountains of homework from school...and let's not even mention BIO class and all that useless crap we're learning about...ugh. XP Also--at the same time, I'm allotting some of my schedule to this epic RP Silver and I are working on. XD So...yeah...I'm actually getting kinda busy here... . So after the third chapter, it might take me a while before I update the next... So...yeah. ^^" Sorry to increase the suspense here! But it WILL come out in the NEAR future, that I CAN promise ya XD The best I can do here is like a week ^^"

Ja ne! ^~^ And SasuNaru 4ever! =^_^=

.::~*Kitsune*~::.


	3. Chapter 3: Naruto

_**Chapter 3: Naruto**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Phew…well, here's chapter 3… ^^" Still don't have much to say right now ^^" My brain's too busy getting raped by a gigantic plot bunny **(Silver: Use protection!)** O///O XDDDD Enjoy!

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

**Warnings: **More abuse/violence and some cursing. n.n" And **major OOC...** (sorry--it had to come out like that...^^" Just giving you all a heads-up. ^^")

**Disclaimer: **

Kit: Ne**, Masashi-sama? Can I own Naruto?**

Masashi-sama: **Hell no! **_**I **_**made him! He's frickin' mine!**

Kit: **Nyaah…no way—he's mine now! :grabs Naru's arm:**

Naruto: **Uhh… ^^"**

Masashi-sama: **Hey! :takes Naru's other arm:**

Kit: **Gah…let go! He's miiiiiinnnneeee!!!**

Masashi-sama: **What makes you think you own him? You're just a frickin' yaoi fangirl!**

Silver:** :pops out of nowhere: Hey! Don't talk to mah buddy that way!**

Kit: **Silver. WTF (What's The Forcast)  
**

Silver: **You're welcome. And besides…neither of you own Naruto…**

Naruto: **Hey!**

Silver: **:grabs both of Naru's legs: 'Cause he's **_**mine. **_**Ya know…for my own uh..._lemony_ purposes…hehehe. O///O**

Kit: **Nyaah! C'mon Sil! I need Naru so I can lure Sasuke ****in too!**

Silver: **Kit—what don't you understand about **_**lemony **_**purpose****s? XD**

Kit: **…gah! Don't mock meh! :tugs on Naruto's arm:**

Masashi-sama: **Oi! :tugs on Naruto's other arm:**

Silver: **...m****wahaha! XD :reels in Naru's legs:**

Naruto: **Yo! I'm not a frickin' stretch toy here! Hey…**

**:Kit, Masashi, and Sil ignore Naru's comments and continue to tug on his limbs, yelling, "MINE!":**

Naruto:** Gah!!!!!! DDDDDXXXXX**

Sasuke: **:pops out of nowhere in between the uh…"intersection": :Shocks all three with Chidori Nagashi (...but doesn't kill them! ^^"):**

Three: **Gah!!! :fall to ground:**

Sasuke: **Sorry guys, but he's **_**my **_**dobe. :grabs Naru and teleports:**

Kit: **….uh… ^^"**

Sil: **Well…that was unexpected…or not. n.n"**

Masashi-sama: **…**

*Haha! Yeah—I officially don't own Naruto, as painful as it is…to meh. XDDDD Just kidding! XD And shout-out to my buddy Silver and Masashi-sama (who I almost worship for bringing Naruto into this world in the first place XD)! And sorry if I like wasted **47 **seconds of your time... ^^" Ah, well--enjoy! ^_^

* * *

Silence continued to fill the cold, dark shack.

Sasuke gulped and stared at each of the nine hostages with wide eyes, the children looking right back at him.

Suddenly, the silence was broken, when a young boy with gray eyes and long, brown hair approached the raven and extended his arm out with a slight grin on his face.

"Hello there," the boy spoke in a comforting tone. "I'm Neji."

The raven looked at the latter's hand for a moment, then shook it, nodding with an indifferent expression on his face.

He was about to introduce himself to the brunette when suddenly, another raven with short hair and was wearing tattered black clothing ran up to shake Sasuke's hand.

"My name is Sai..." the dark-haired boy spoke softly with a friendly grin.

_Uh…_

Soon, the rest of the children walked over to greet the Uchiha, either with heartwarming smiles or just with mere indifference.

"I'm Choji!"

"Name's Kiba."

"It's a drag, but I'll tell you my name anyway. It's Shikamaru."

"Hi there! I am Lee!"

"...Gaara."

…_I knew it… _The raven thought to himself, staring stoically at the redhead with icy blue eyes. _It __**is **__that kid…_

"So," the Hyuga spoke again, breaking the Uchiha's train of thought. "You must be Sasuke."

The raven shifted his gaze back to the pale-eyed brunette. "Yeah."

"I see…"

"Hn," Sasuke replied stolidly. "I remember you. You were the kid who lived next to my family's ranch and went missing a month ago."

Neji nodded. "…yeah. Uchiha, was it?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. I figured…"

The brunette's eyes softened and the Hyuga stared at the floor.

Sasuke couldn't help but soften his gaze as well.

Neji chuckled. "Hm. So…now you know where I was…all this time. …where we _all _were."

.

.

"…huh. Funny…isn't it?" the brunette spoke, but there was absolutely no humor intended. "It's like…one minute—you're in your home, all nicely tucked in your comfy bed…and then, before you even take the time to notice…you're taken away from it—" He snapped his fingers. "—just like that…"

Sasuke frowned, then looked at the rest of Kyuubi's hostages, solemn expressions on each and everyone of their faces. He turned back to the brunette, who was still staring blankly at the ground.

"…what…happened?"

The Hyuga frowned, then looked back at the Uchiha with a serious look on his face. "If you really must know…we were kidnapped…all of us. …but at different times…and by the same demon who you just saw earlier. All of us…who were living peaceful lives out in Konoha, in our warm, safe homes…with our loving parents…and then…we all get whisked away and dumped into this hellhole of a place—getting pushed around all day, doing hard labor…and getting beaten half to death almost 24/7…"

At that moment, the raven noticed Sai wince behind his back and Gaara slowly extending his arm out to comfort him.

Neji stiffened, his gaze becoming more intent. "It's terrible, I tell you. Every day…all you do…is either sit there, peeling numerous potatoes for eternity, or lifting heavy stuff around till your back's about to break. What's even worse—depending on how _he _feels…he'll just randomly pull one of us out of the group…and hit him or her, till he's satisfied…but that's usually at the point they're almost dead…or are dead. …unless you get _really _lucky that he lets you off…'easy'…." The brunette sighed, then looked back at the Uchiha, who had a solemn expression on his face. "…so…"

Sasuke shifted his coal-black eyes towards the pale-eyed Hyuga.

"…"

"…how'd _you _end up in a place like this?"

"…"

Sasuke frowned, then looked to see the curious/indifferent expressions on the children's faces.

"…were you taken away from your home as well?"

The raven hesitated for a moment. "…" Then he spoke. "…yeah—I got taken away, too. It was…terrible." And with that sentence, he looked away from the rest of the children with a pained expression on his face. _…I can't let them know the truth…what happened to me…or what I **did**... _

He glanced back at Sai. …_is absolutely **nothing** compared to what the fool did to them…_

Suddenly, the Uchiha felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around to see Gaara, with intent pain in his sea foam blue eyes as well.

"…it's all right," the redhead spoke with a serious but impassive tone. The raven looked back with a stoic countenance.

Suddenly, Gaara grinned slightly. "…because you're not alone."

At first, Sasuke just stared blankly at the redhead, but after a few seconds, he managed to smile back, even if it was the tiniest bit.

Then, he felt another hand on his shoulder and turned around to see a smirking brunette.

"Yeah." Neji added.

Soon, all were giving heartwarming smiles to the young Uchiha—and welcomed him—as their newly found companion.

But right before Sasuke left to join his new friends, he couldn't help but glance briefly at the closed door with a blank expression on his face.

~O~

The next few hours were filled with conversations and slight laughter here and there. You see—even though these children had been held captive for quite a while, they still knew how to have fun, even if it was just the tiniest bit. At least there was one good thing about being trapped inside an old, beat-up shack—and that was friendship.

"So Choji was like, 'What the--"

Suddenly, there was a loud knock and a shrill whistle. "LIGHTS OUT, TWERPS!" Kyuubi yelled.

Immediately, the children scrambled to their positions and Sai took his place by the oil lamp.

After a few seconds, the raven found a snug, warm patch of hay at the corner of the shack and settled there for the night.

"Good night!" Sai whispered before extinguishing the lamp.

The Uchiha merely nodded and the lights went off.

Sasuke shuffled to lean over on his left side, but for some reason…found himself looking at the closed door again.

"_Get out of here while you still can…!" _

At first, the raven stared indifferently at the shack door, but something, deep down in his heart, made him wince.

"_Let go of me!" the blonde had cried, scrambling to break free off the masked man's grasp._

The Uchiha pursed his lips, then paused.

The room was silent once again, the wind being the only thing that could be heard as it made the walls creak.

"…"

Finally, he flipped over on his other side, facing away from the closed door, and immediately closed his eyes shut.

"…"

~O~

Bang!

There was a loud whistle. "Wake up, maggots!"

At that moment, he heard children begin to scramble up to their feet and another shrill whistle from the same man. "Get to work!"

Crash.

The Uchiha groaned. At this point, he was half-awake and thought he could hear footsteps crunching in the hay, coming closer and closer in his direction. Suddenly…

"Oi, twerp! No napping on the job!" At that moment, Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

The raven's eyes flipped open and he shrank back, immediately looking up at the man who had severely kicked him.

Kyuubi had a menacing look on his face, his cold black eyes gleaming more than ever.

Sasuke stared back at the man indifferently.

"Why aren't you working like the rest of them!? Eh, boy?" the tyrant snarled.

"…"

"Hey! Are you hearin' a frickin' word I'm saying here, kid!?" At that moment, he took a gun out of his pocket and pointed it straight at the young Uchiha. "Or would you rather let Mr. Bullet Bill here do the talking!?"

"…"

The masked man growled. "You being the wise guy here, Uchiha?"

Sasuke only continued to stare impassively at Kyuubi, whose face was slowly beginning to flush scarlet red.

The older man shoved the weapon closer towards the raven's face. "You know what I do to wise guys here, kid? Huh?" At that moment, he clicked his gun and began to pull the trigger.

It took a while for the raven to realize what actually going on. His eyes widened, his body frozen.

But suddenly…

"WAIT!"

Bang.

After a few minutes, the raven finally had the courage to open his eyes after he had closed them in fear of the impact.

There Kyuubi stood, the gun still in the palm in his hand. The only thing was…another pale-skinned raven…clutching the very same arm, leading it away from the Uchiha's direction…

Sasuke's eyes widened.

Sai panted, sweat drops forming at the back of his neck.

The masked man scowled at the latter. "Oi! What gives!?"

Pant. "I…"

"You didn't just interrupt me here, now DID YOU!?"

He was about to shake the boy off his arm and point the gun back at Sasuke when Sai immediately tightened his grasp. "No!"

Kyuubi growled, then glared intently at him. "You being a wise guy here, too!?"

Suddenly, Sai shrank back and fell to his knees. "Don't hurt him, Master Kyuubi. …it's my fault. I didn't get to give him a job last night, and that's why he's not working like the rest of us."

Silence.

Sai went on, his voice shaking and hands trembling. "If you want, I can give him a job right now. He can help me lift that sack of potatoes into the shack. I—"

Slap.

The short-haired raven stumbled on his back and reached up to rub his mouth with his arm.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw a smudge of bright red blood appear on the ivory, then shifted his gaze towards the scowling masquerade.

"I ain't takin' orders from a fuckin' snot-nosed kid like you!"

"..."

"And pull your own damn weight around here!"

Kyuubi snarled and glared at the Uchiha. "I got somethin' better in store for _you_…"

He grabbed Sasuke's arm and yanked him to his feet. He pointed to the other side of the shack.

"…you see those potatoes?"

"…" The Uchiha squinted to see what looked like a whole mountain of potatoes, freshly harvested.

The masked man tugged on the raven's arm and leaned down against his neck.

Sasuke couldn't help…but _shudder _at the ice-cold breath of the older man—so cold it could've even made an ice cube shiver violently.

Kyuubi chuckled sinisterly. "You're gonna make me rich…and peel them _all _for me."

He abruptly pushed the startled raven away. "You got me?"

The Uchiha could only stand there, shaken, and briefly nodded.

The older grinned devilishly. "Now get to work. _Now._" He turned back to Sai.

"You, too, brat."

The short-haired raven instantly got up without a word.

"And let me tell ya one thing…" He narrowed his eyes at the latter.

"I. Don't. Like. Wise guys." The masked man paused and pursed his lips. "You pull another stunt like that and…" He slid his finger below his chin and made a scratching sound.

Sai only stared at the guy, trying to keep his countenance as stolid as he could at that point and nodded.

"Hmph. Now get outta my sight." He turned to exit the shack and slammed the door behind him.

At first, all just stood there, stunned by what they had just seen, then continued on with their…"duties" (be mature here... XD).

Not even Sasuke Uchiha could believe what had just happened. All he was doing now…was staring at the blood stain on Sai's arm and the heinous bruise he'd just gained on his lower lip…

After a few minutes of silence, the raven managed to utter a word. "…thanks…"

No reply.

He stepped forward and lightly put his hand on Sai's shoulder.

At first, the short-haired raven flinched a little, then he turned to face the Uchiha with a blank expression on his face. "…don't mention it. …are you…ok?"

Sasuke shrank back at the question. _He _should be the one asking the same thing.

"…yeah." The raven paused. "…your face…"

Sai reached up to touch his lower lip. "…don't worry about it." He got up and walked back towards the sack of potatoes.

The Uchiha couldn't help but feel a little…remorse for the poor kid.

Finally, he turned to face his own burden.

It looked as if there were about 47 trillion potatoes that needed peeling and by hand…

The raven glanced down at his pale hands.

…it would seem that it would take forever just to peel half of them.

Sasuke exhaled sharply and took a step forward towards the mountain of potatoes when suddenly…something else caught his eye: …or _someone_, that is.

The Uchiha's eyes widened.

At first he thought he'd just seen another bundle of hay under the huge stack of potatoes. However, after squinting in the bright sunlight emanating from the broken shack ceiling, he could make out the image...of a boy. A boy...with bushy blonde hair, tan skin, and big blue eyes…

He was sitting there, doing the task that Sasuke should have been doing at that moment as well. But the weird thing was…that he was just…_there, _no one even bothering to help him or even say a _word _to him. He was all alone—with a solemn expression on his face—just absently peeling the skin off of the potato he was holding.

That same boy…

"_No!"_

The raven winced and suddenly felt deep regret at the very bottom of his heart. Yet he didn't even know why...why he felt such pity for this boy. For one thing, he didn't even _know _the kid and yet…

"Hey, Uchiha—" a voice spoke, snapping Sasuke back to reality.

Shikamaru waved his hand in front of the raven's face. "You feelin' ok?"

Sasuke flinched, then looked at the brunette. "…"

"What?" Shikamaru asked, caught a little off-guard by the solemn look on the Uchiha's face. "Is there something on my face?" He reached up to rub his cheek when Sasuke cut him off.

"No..." the raven replied stolidly. He turned towards the blonde with a blank expression on his face. "…that kid…who is he?"

The brunette shifted his eyes in the direction of where Sasuke was looking and paused.

"Oh…him." He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "...that's...that's...**Naruto**."

The Uchiha took a minute to absorb the new piece of information and in his mind, repeated the name. _Naruto._

"Hn," the raven replied indifferently. Then he went on. "It's odd...how he's all alone in that corner...all by himself..." He turned to the brunette. "Why isn't anyone…talking to him? I mean…it's as if they're all…_ignoring _him. …is there a particular reason…_why?" _

Shikamaru paused, then scratched the back of his head. "…no, not really…" He stared at the sulking blonde. "I dunno…we just…_do._" And with that sentence, he walked away.

Sasuke looked back at the blue-eyed boy, with a bit of curiosity in his mind…and pity—mostly pity…and remorse.

The raven sighed and began to approach the blonde, his footsteps crunching in the hay on the ground.

Finally, he was standing in front of the boy, who continued peeling the potato he was holding without the slightest pause.

_Well…what do I say now? Hn. That's just great. I get the nerve to actually drag my weight over here, and I have no idea what to tell the guy. _He glanced down at the floor. _Curse you, feet… _And with that, the Uchiha sighed, but stopped mid-breath when yet another thing caught his eye.

Dear God.

The huge, swelling cut that took up the majority of the boy's left cheek made the Uchiha shrink back.

And yet…the boy merely continued to peel the potato without uttering even a word.

The Uchiha softened his gaze. _Well…here goes…_

He opened his mouth to speak, still unsure of what the hell he was gonna say to this boy.

But somehow…these words were able to come out.

"You're such a dobe, you know that?"

No reply.

"You go out of your way…to try to help _me—_some kid who you don't even know."

No response.

"…and then…you go and get yourself cut up for it."

There was a slight hesitation, but the blonde continued with his task.

"…you know only an _idiot _would go and do something like that?"

"…"

"…but…"

"…"

"…it was brave."

Suddenly, the blonde stopped.

The raven couldn't help but smirk. "Hn. …even _I _wouldn't have been able to pull off a stunt like that…"

Silence.

"And another thing…"

The blonde listened.

"…thanks." With that sentence, he outstretched his arm towards the blue-eyed boy.

"…I'm Sasuke." the Uchiha spoke with a slight smile on his face.

At first, the blonde hesitated, until he finally found the courage to look up at the raven.

At that moment, dark, coal-black eyes met wide, deep blue. He stared at the Uchiha's extended arm, then took his hand. Suddenly, a huge grin appeared on the tan, whiskered face—something that Sasuke knew he'd never forget.

"Heh. …name's Naruto..."

The blue-eyed boy smirked.

"...teme."

* * *

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Well, that's chapter 3 for ya! And sorry again for the OOC... In fact...the next few chapters may have some OOC in there as well, but I **am **trying as much as I can to keep them all in character. ^^" Again—it might take me a while to update this fic for like the next chapter—but I am trying to update in a week tops. ^^: So yeah. XD Hope you're liking this so far! ^~^ By the way...I'm kinda losing some momentum here...yes--it's already come to that point. ^^" But that doesn't mean I won't be posting anymore--don't get meh wrong about that. ^w^ So far--I think this has like been the best thing I've ever written, so I'm not about to give up on this just yet...or ever. XD

...help meh out here with some reviews? Thanks. ^_^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.


	4. Chapter 4: A Friend

_**Chapter 4: A Friend...**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Friendship can come from almost anywhere—from a single compliment of the color of your shoes to having to work together as lab partners in school. But that depends on exactly _what school _you go to. ^^" Oh—and I am living, breathing proof of this. Let's see—what can I say—I've made friends in the weirdest of ways. For one, in the sixth grade, when I was the new kid in school, I had absolutely no one to talk to. Until I got into the lunch room. The girl who was to be my future best friend was sitting by herself at a table in the corner. She was shy and didn't like that…social. So why mention this? Because my feet just ended up having their own mind and led straight to that table. So I sat down and put my lunch on the table. And still…nothing from the girl. So I'm like, "Why did I come here again?" And then I looked up…to find her looking right at me. So what do I do? That's right—STARE. XD

So we're like looking at each other with like straight expressions for like, IDK how long…and it was SILENT. Do you have any frickin' idea how much I just wanted to like tap my feet or drum my fingers on the table just to break that ominous silence? XD So yeah.

Stare.

Stare.

Stare.

Finally…

"You wanna be friends?"

"Sure!"

XD Yup—so that's how I met my best friend. ^w^ Love ya, Jan-chan—wherever ya are! ^~^

Another…was when I met **Silver. **For like the first time. XD It all started out with one question…

So we're like outside for what, field day? And Silver just like walked up to meh and first thing she asked was…

"YOU LIKE ANIME, RIGHT?"

"Uh…yeah."

…and then…somewhere along the lines…Gravitation (my first shounen-ai ^w^)…and then…

Y-A-O-I!!!!!! XDDDDDDD (Thank you, Silver—for changing my life forever. XD)

XD. Yeah—so there. Friendship can come from just about anywhere…even…_potatoes. _^_^

Hop you enjoy this chapter. ^~^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

~o~

The raven smirked at the blonde.

Suddenly, they heard strident yelling just outside of the shack. _"Are you fuckin' kidding me!? What is this? If you don't do this right, you're gonna be in a whole hell of--"_

There was a loud crash, which made the blonde flinch and immediately go back to work.

At that moment, Sasuke couldn't help but feel more pity on the boy...especially on how terrified he looked just from hearing the sound Kyuubi's rage. He sighed, then plopped down on the hay, next to the blue-eyed kid.

"Hn." The Uchiha spoke, glancing at the potato the latter was holding.

Tear.

"So…potatoes."

Rip.

"…yeah." Naruto replied, the stoic expression returning to his face.

Sasuke stared at the latter, as he absently peeled off yet another piece of potato skin with his bare hands. Then he spoke, not willing for the silence to come back just yet.

"...hn."

Tear.

The raven pursed his lips, searching for words. "...that's not how you peel a potato."

The blonde paused to wearily look at the the raven for a moment. "...what?"

The Uchiha smirked. "You're doing it wrong."

The blue-eyed boy raised an eyebrow, confusion replacing indifference. "Really...is that so?"

"Hn."

"...how would _you_ know that? You just got here, didn't you?"

"...yeah..." Sasuke turned to grab a random potato from the enormous pile. "...but..." _I'm an Uchiha, _he thought, smiling a little. _...but now..._ He looked back at the blonde. After a few seconds, he spoke again with a slight grin on his face. "...I'm not an idiot like you."

Naruto shrank back and narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The Uchiha chuckled. "...let me show you how it's done."

The blonde crossed his arms and pouted. "...hmph."

The raven smirked and dug his nails into the spud, attempting to rip off a huge piece of potato skin...

_Rip._

But when he looked down at his hand, all he could see was...the thinnest, most _measly_ bit of spud skin he'd ever seen.

The raven lifted up the skimpy fragment and stared dully at it.

The blonde paused and glanced at the Uchiha's poor excuse of an accomplishment. And when he saw just how small the latter's piece was, he couldn't help but smirk.

"…_that's _how you're supposed to peel a potato? Wow, teme...I had no idea."

Sasuke shifted his eyes towards the smug latter, then stared sheepishly at his…'accomplishment'. "…no."

He exhaled sharply, then made another attempt at peeling the potato with his bare hands and eyes closed, trying even harder to get a huge piece of spud peel.

Rip.

The Uchiha slowly looked down at his hand, but only saw a fragment even smaller than the one he had before. He narrowed his eyes.

This time, the blonde couldn't help but snicker a little. "…you sure you don't need _my _help?"

The raven growled. "Yes_,__ dobe. _I'm sure I can peel one stupid potato all by myself."

Tear.

Another measly piece. _Are you kidding me?_

Rip.

Yet another.

The Uchiha exhaled sharply and tossed it to the side.

Rip.

_What the—_

Tear.

This time, Sasuke had tried peeling the potato behind his back and was now looking at the result in his hand.

He stared at the scrap with a flat expression on his face. Even his own crap was bigger than what he was holding.

Suddenly, the blonde sighed and spoke. "Here."

The raven turned to see a small knife in Naruto's tan hand, and took it. "Thanks."

He glanced back at the partially peeled potato, then ran the knife down the spud's outer edges, slicing off a huge chunk of skin.

The latter watched as it fell to the floor and shifted his gaze towards the blonde, then back to the small knife.

"Better?" he drawled, grinning proudly.

"…yeah." Sasuke replied flatly.

It was unbelievable how he, an _Uchiha, _for goodness sake--couldn't even peel one darn potato with his bare hands. The raven paused, then looked at the blonde with an indifferent expression on his face. "…but where'd you get something like this?"

And with that sentence, he looked closely at the hilt, which had designs of what looked like two ivory turtledoves dancing together in a background of light, almost translucent blue. A dazzling sight for the young raven.

Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy paused.

"…"

Naruto looked up first to make sure no one else could hear his reply, then leaned in close to Sasuke's ear. The raven listened eagerly.

"…it...it...was...a gift."

The Uchiha only nodded. "Hn...from who?" He turned the shiny object over in his hand.

The blue-eyed boy smirked. "…heh. Someone…" And with that sentence, he couldn't help but feel a little hurt inside...for some unknown reason.

But the raven didn't notice and only continued to gaze upon the small knife, running his finger down the dancing turtledoves. "…"

Naruto looked back at the Uchiha. "...but it's beautiful, right?"

"…yeah…I guess so…" Sasuke replied stoically, then cut off another piece of potato skin.

Rip.

"…so…" The blonde spoke with a solemn expression on his face. "…what brings you here to this…'paradise'?"

The raven paused and stared at the ground, his countenance...despondent. "…"

Naruto glanced at the quiet Uchiha, then softened his gaze and went back to peeling the potato he was holding. "…that's okay. …you don't have to tell me if you don't want to—I respect that."

Sasuke looked back at the blue-eyed boy, who now had that same dull expression back on his face.

The Uchiha pursed his lips. "…Naruto...was it?"

The blonde paused. "..yeah. …Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

The raven looked back, only to see the blue-eyed boy deep in thought.

"…hmm..."

"…what is it?"

Naruto tilted his head. "…then that means…you must be an Uchiha…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, half-wondering how the latter even figured that one out...although it _was _obvious with the fan emblem on the back of his shirt...

"…and?"

The blonde snickered.

"What?"

Snicker.

The raven clenched his fists. "What's so funny about it, moron?"

Naruto paused for a moment, then looked at the annoyed Uchiha.

"…"

"…?"

"…and…yes—you're an Uchiha…_one of the most talented families in the history of Konoha farming..._"

Sasuke listened eagerly.

The blonde snickered again. "…and yet...you couldn't even peel one stupid potato! What is this?" He laughed uncontrollably at Sasuke, who now had a scowl on his face.

The raven narrowed his eyes at the blue-eyed boy and immediately stood up.

"Ahahaha! Ahaha! Ha!" Naruto laughed. He opened his eyes to look at the Uchiha, and for some reason, abruptly stopped.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the startled look on the blonde's whiskered face.

"H-hey…" the blue-eyed boy managed to utter with a gulp. "…it was only a joke…"

The Uchiha stood there, still confused by the sudden mood change. …until he finally realized what his hand was still holding.

Sasuke looked down at the small, sharp knife, then shifted his eyes towards Naruto. He couldn't help but shrink back a little after seeing the huge cut on the blonde's face that had caught his eye earlier…

At this point, the poor kid was literally _shaking. _The raven's eyes softened. _What **did** he do to him last night? For him to be like this… _Suddenly, he exhaled sharply and stared at the cringing latter. _...now what do I do...?_

The blonde flinched and looked up at the Uchiha.

"…Naruto…"

"…uh…yeah?"

_Here goes..._

Sasuke clenched his fists. "…you're gonna regret saying that."

The blue-eyed boy tilted his head, slight confusion in his eyes.

The raven smirked. "I'm gonna kill you, Naruto…"

More confusion filled the blonde's eyes.

At that moment, Sasuke raised his hand, gripping the hilt of the blade tightly.

Naruto's eyes widened, sweat drops forming at the back of his neck.

"…hn." The Uchiha uttered, raising his left arm.

The blonde gulped and closed his eyes.

There was a long moment of silence between the two, neither one moving a muscle.

Until…

Thump.

Naruto opened his eyes, only to see the shiny knife lying in the hay in front of him...and Sasuke's hand wide open.

"…by turning you into a mashed potato."

The blue-eyed boy raised an eyebrow and looked up at the Uchiha. "Uh...what?"

Suddenly, the raven smirked and looked right into the blonde's ocean blue eyes. "Hn...you heard what I said, dobe."

"..."

" ...I'm going to turn you...into a mashed potato!" And with that sentence, he broke into a sprint, the slightly peeled potato in his hand.

It took a second for this to register in the blonde's mind. His eyes widened and he immediately got up, running away from the Uchiha.

"Get back here, dobe!" Sasuke shouted.

At that point, Naruto finally realized what was going on and ran even faster, a huge smile forming on his face. "Not on your life!" The blonde laughed. Almost immediately, that same huge grin appeared on his face.

The raven smiled. _…that did the trick…_

For the next few minutes, the Uchiha continued to chase the latter all around the shack, dodging piles of potatoes and wheelbarrows carrying fresh harvest.

Finally, the raven found an open space and cut Naruto off, the two boys stumbling to the ground, Sasuke on top of Naruto.

"Hey!" the blonde laughed, beaming at the latter.

Suddenly, the Uchiha's eyes widened.

At that moment, he couldn't help but smile at the comforting sight.

Naruto's bushy blonde hair was like butterscotch now, flowing and shining even more brightly in the sunlight peeking through the cracks of the shack ceiling. The grin on his tan, whiskered face grew bigger every second, and his laugh was just...so darn contagious, even for an Uchiha.

But what dazzled Sasuke the most was the sparkling gleam in the blonde's eyes, a deep cerulean—so deep it made the Pacific Ocean question its own color. And this wasn't the cold gleam that Kyuubi always had in his dark, black eyes. This was…different. Instead of the raven feeling chills down his spine, he felt…comfort—as if the boy's eyes made up his own ocean…his sanctuary. And at that same moment…he wanted to see more.

"Hn." The Uchiha muttered.

"What?" the blue-eyed boy asked.

"…I'm not satisfied with this potato anymore."

Naruto laughed. "Why?"

The raven smirked and dropped the spud. "Because…it's not the right punishment for a dobe."

"Hey! Will you stop calling me that already!?" he growled, trying to sit up.

But Sasuke only ended up pinning him down to the ground again. He chuckled.

The latter laughed and looked at the slightly smushed vegetable in the hay.

"Heh. Okay then, _teme... What is?"_

The Uchiha paused and thought for a moment. _Hmm...good question. _Suddenly, he remembered something. Something...from what felt like happened millennia ago. But in reality...it had only been...three years?

~Flashback~

It had been a Wednesday afternoon...when Itachi had just returned from school...and eight-year-old Sasuke finally persuaded him into playing a nice game of tag outside in the forest.

But little did he know that the older Uchiha had combined it with hide-and-seek.

"Brother?" the younger raven called, his voice a little worried. "You can come out now..."

It had been twenty minutes into the game, and for some reason, Itachi had suddenly disappeared from Sasuke's sight.

The young raven walked cautiously by the trees, watching his back at the same time. "This isn't funny..." And with that comment, he walked past a bunch of nearby bushes.

"Big brother?"

No reply.

This time, Sasuke was actually starting to feel a little...scared--for once. Sure, he had been sent out a few times by his mother to buy food from his Aunt Uruchi's market, but he'd never been by himself for _this _long...

What if something bad had happened to his older brother? Or worse...what if he was next? He turned to look into the distance to see the Sun beginning to set.

"Itachi! Come on! It's getting dark now! Father's gonna be looking for us!" The raven called, stepping back, closer to the bushes.

"Brother..." he sighed, sitting down on the ground with his arms crossed. "Where are you already!? This isn't funny anymore..."

Sasuke pouted. "Show yourself--mmffhh!"

Before the raven knew it, he was on the ground, his older sibling lying on top of him and wiggling his fingers against his stomach.

THe Uchiha laughed. "Hey!"

Itachi chuckled, looking down at his adorable little brother. "I win."

Suddenly, Sasuke stopped laughing. "What? But you don't _win _hide-and-seek or tag!" He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, big brother?"

The older Uchiha smirked. "Hm. ...now who said we were playing hide-and-seek or tag?"

The young raven tilted his head. "Huh...I thought I did."

Itachi chuckled. "No--we're not doing any of that." He grinned at his younger sibling. "From here on out, we're playing..." The older Uchiha wiggled his fingers once more, making the latter laugh again.

"...tickle fight." And at the same time, Sasuke slipped away from his older brother's grasp and tackled him to the ground playfully.

The two Uchiha siblings laughed.

~End Flashback~

Sasuke could still remember that day like it was yesterday...the first...and _only _time...he'd ever laughed. And at that same moment, he couldn't help but miss Itachi a little...or maybe a lot. Whatever...he was probably happy now that he was gone. No one to bother him or anything...

Suddenly, he felt someone nudge his arm.

"Helloo? Sasuke? Are you still here on Earth? Or do I need to send a UFO up there?"

The raven shook his head and looked down at the blonde, who now had a curious expression on his face.

"My 'punishment'?" the blue-eyed boy asked.

The Uchiha thought for a moment, then paused.

"...well?"

"…hn."

"…what?" Naruto asked, becoming more confused every second.

Finally, the raven opened his mouth to reply. "…tickle fight."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Tickle fight? ...what's that?"

Sasuke smirked.

The blue-eyed boy tilted his head. "What—"

He broke off mid-sentence after the Uchiha suddenly tackled him, his fingers sweeping against his stomach.

Naruto laughed. "H-hey!"

Sasuke chuckled and tickled him even more, making the blonde laugh even harder.

Suddenly, the boy managed to get his fingers on the raven's sides, beginning to tickle him just as violently.

At first Sasuke only smirked—Uchihas never laughed in public and he knew that. "You know that no matter how hard you try, there's no way I'm gonna--"

…until now.

"Pfft...hey, wait, I--haha...hahahaha!" the raven laughed, forcing him to tickle the blonde even more.

This made Naruto literally explode into laughter and jerk around, until the two were finally rolling around in the hay, laughing their heads off.

"Hahaha! Ah--stop it! Stop it, teme! Ahahaha!" the blonde guffawed, wiggling his fingers even more violently.

The Uchiha snickered, then started laughing again as well.

When suddenly…

_Bang!_

The laughter abruptly stopped.

Kyuubi snarled and stomped into the shack. "DID I JUST HEAR _LAUGHTER_ IN HERE!?'

The masked man growled and looked around the room, terrified faces on the children's faces. "WELL? WHAT'S FUNNY, KIDDIES? HUH?"

At that moment, Naruto and Sasuke separated, sitting next to each other on the ground.

Kyuubi immediately shifted his glare towards the two and narrowed his eyes. "WHAT ABOUT IT? WHAT THE FUCK IS SO DAMN FUNNY!?"

No reply. All the children did at that very moment was just..._stand _there, literally half-scared out of their minds (or more than that), mouths gaping.

After a few minutes of dead silence, the older man finally gave up and sighed. "All right—back to work. You're all pissing me off." And with that sentence, he stormed out of the shack, slamming the door behind him.

The children sighed in relief, and the majority of them glared at the two on the ground.

"Shut up already," Kiba spat out, narrowing his eyes at the blonde.

Naruto shrank back hesitantly, then got up, lifting Sasuke back onto his feet.

"…we better get back to our jobs..." The blue-eyed boy spoke, in a softer tone, the stoic expression beginning to reappear on his face--although this time it wasn't as impassive as it had been before.

All the raven could do now was nod and follow him back to the mountain of potatoes.

Before the blonde sat down with another vegetable, Sasuke could see him take the knife and sheath it with a cover as light as the hilt. Then he hid it in his pocket.

The rest of the day was filled with more conversations between the two boys—about typical, random tidbits like "What do you like to do for fun?" or "What do you think of…"—and with slight smiles here and there and sometimes a few chuckles. And by the end of the day…the raven actually felt…warmth in his heart…for some odd reason.

~o~

"LIGHTS OUT!" Kyuubi yelled.

The children took their usual places around the shack. Sasuke was about to fall asleep on his lone stack of hay in the corner when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

The Uchiha glanced back to see Naruto, with a solemn expression on his face.

"…hey…Sasuke?"

"…yeah? What is it?"

The blonde hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Uh…can I sleep here tonight?" He chuckled nervously.

The raven paused and looked around at the rest of the sleeping children, each and every one of their backs turned--the cold shoulder... Then he shifted his gaze back at Naruto, his big ocean eyes sparkling in the moonlight and pleading.

Finally, Sasuke softened his gaze and shifted over. "…sure."

The blonde smiled and lay down next to the Uchiha, his cerulean eyes twinkling even more.

"…thanks."

At that moment, the raven couldn't help but smile a little.

"…don't mention it."

~O~

Sasuke groaned and flipped over on his left side, covering his ears.

"…_Sasuke! Where are you?"_

"Wha…"

"_Wait!"_

"…"

"_Sasuke! Come back!"_

"No…"

"_Sasuke!"_

"No…stop it…"

"_Please—don't go!"_

"Shut up…"

"_**Napping on the job?"**_

The Uchiha gasped and immediately sat up, sweat drops and goose bumps forming on the nape of his pale neck. He panted, looking around, only to see that it was only a nightmare…

.

.

…again.

The raven scratched his head and looked down to see if he hadn't woken Naruto up.

However…the blonde wasn't there.

Sasuke looked up and got on his feet, searching around the cold, dark shack for the blue-eyed boy.

"…Naruto?"

The Uchiha looked in every direction, walking around every corner and avoiding sleeping children on the ground. But he was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, a small beam of light caught his eye. The Uchiha turned to see a small opening in the wall, big enough for a kid to slide through…but small.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the aperture, thinking the blonde could have possibly slipped through, as far-fetched as it may have seemed. But hey--trying never hurt anyone...unless that person's going cliff diving.

"…dobe?" The raven whispered once again, sliding through the opening.

But it was silent. All that could be heard was the scattered chirping of the crickets and the wind blowing against the Uchiha's face.

Sasuke took a step forward to continue looking for the blonde, but stopped in his tracks when something else caught his eye. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped.

Up in the midnight blue sky...was the biggest..._brightest_ moon he'd ever seen in his eleven-year-old life. Shining down over the tall, dew-soaked green grass, giving off some aura of…serenity and...peace of mind.

The raven closed his eyes and sighed as the wind blew once more.

"…wonderful…isn't it?"

The Uchiha opened his eyes and whirled around, only to see the blonde sitting by a nearby barrel, looking up at the dazzling moon.

"Hn." Sasuke muttered. "Found you."

Naruto grinned.

The raven sighed and sat down next to the blonde.

At first it was quiet between the two.

"Chirp," a cricket sounded.

Sasuke turned towards the blonde and pursed his lips, looking for the best way to break the silence. One thing that could be said about the young Uchiha was that he wasn't very good at being..._social_, so this was actually a first for him.

"Chirp."

"So…do you come here every night?"

Naruto blew against his long, golden bangs. "…yeah."

"Hn." The Uchiha uttered.

"...tell you the truth…" the blonde began. "...this is actually where I just...hang out. You know…when everyone's asleep. When everything's…_quiet._" He fumbled around with a patch of grass. "Just…me…and the most wonderful thing you could ever see from this world. …somewhere I can…actually hear myself think…and just...relax**...for once."** The blonde chuckled. "...without being tormented by..._him._"

Sasuke contemplated on that comment and winced as he referred back to that other night... Then he turned to look back at the lunar delight and felt another breeze of wind blow past him. "Hn. ...I can see what you mean by that." He rested his elbows behind his head and was about to give another comment, when the latter abruptly changed the subject.

Naruto grinned and pointed up at the sky. "See that?"

The raven shifted his eyes. "The moon?"

"No…" He raised his arm higher. "…there."

The Uchiha shifted his gaze again and squinted. "…dobe, I don't see anything."

The blonde sighed and turned Sasuke's head to the right. "_Over there."_

The raven narrowed his eyes as much as he could…until he could see what looked like a cluster of stars, shining brightly in the night sky. It was like…drops of vanilla—scattered everywhere.

"See it now?" Naruto asked.

"Hn." Sasuke muttered. "That's the first time I've seen stars all bunched up together like that."

The blue-eyed boy smiled. "Yeah…but that's still not what I was talking about."

The Uchiha turned to face the blonde. "Hm? Then what?" He scratched his head.

Naruto raised his hand. "Look harder, teme."

Sasuke shifted his eyes back towards the cluster of stars. He focused his gaze until he could see two bright dots in the middle of the group. The raven's eyes widened.

It was as if they outshined the rest of the stars in the sky…and almost the moon. The two of them…side by side…glowing for what seemed to be forever.

"You see them now?" the blonde asked.

"…yeah…" the Uchiha spoke, mesmerized by the two bright stars.

Naruto chuckled. "You know…every time I come out here…those two same stars are always there, always making all the other ones look so dull…but not counting the moon. Heh—it's like…they're just…there for me. And if for some reason…when I feel sad, they just…"

The raven listened eagerly.

"…shine even brighter." The blue-eyed boy finished. "Even if they really are light years away from us."

Sasuke nodded with a slight grin on his face and looked back at the night sky.

Suddenly, he felt Naruto stiffen a little next to him.

"…hey…Sasuke?"

The Uchiha turned to face the blonde, whose eyes were now big and pleading…and shining even brighter than ever out the moonlight.

THe latter pursed his lips, half-searching for the right words to say.

"…we're...

Sasuke listened with a blank countenance.

"..._friends_ now...right?" He chuckled nervously and scratched his head.

"..."

At first, the raven didn't know how to respond to the question. ...and you really couldn't blame him, since he'd only known the kid for what, two days, more or less?

...but then he thought of all the children who were turning their backs on him earlier…leaving him out in the dust…and that feeling he always got just seeing Naruto smile...

Suddenly, Sasuke softened his gaze at the ocean-eyed boy and lightly placed his hand on top of his.

"..."

"…yeah." the raven spoke with an impassive tone. He slightly tightened his grip on the tan hand. "...but don't get too worked up about it."

Naruto grinned proudly, his ocean eyes sparkling even more, like the moon reflecting off two big pools of sapphire in the middle of the night.

Even the Uchiha couldn't help but grin a little. "...and you wanna know one thing?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

At that point, Sasuke wound his fingers around the latter's.

"...something tells me...that we always will be."

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Aw...loved writing this chapter. ^w^ It made me feel...all fluffy inside. XD Probably because it IS fluffy. XDDDDDD Ah...so--yeah--some things I wanted to point out:

I am not sure if everyone got this in the beginning, but I just wanted to give another refresher: Sasuke is **11 **years old. But don't worry, it was way in the beginning of chapter 3 and I only mentioned it once...or twice nouu. XD Anyways, yeah--Sasu's 11, and everyone else in the shack is like 10-11 years old (Naru's 10, by the way...and Neji's 11. ^~^). So yeah--just a little note there. ^_^

As usual, I will try as hard as I can to update as soon as possible (a week tops) and again:

Reviews, anyone? PLEASE? ^^" Hint-hint: the more I get, the more effort I put into updating this early. XD Reviews are like my motivation here to write more. XDDDD So...PLEASE? Anyone? ...spare reviews for the mentally retarded yaoi addict that needs to go to some rehab just to get this rainbow away from my poor, harassed brain (...NOT. XD)? Please??? n.n"

Thanks and hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^~^ More is on da way! :zooms:

Till then, loves...ja ne! ^~^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

***By the way...**

Believe it or not... TODAY. IS. FRICKIN'. ...**NATIONAL YAOI DAY!!!!! **XDDDDD MWAHAHAHA! Yeah--that's right! Break out your frickin' yaoi paddles and go for it! *laughs maniacally and disappears in a poof of smoke* SasuNaru Forever!!! =^w^= (voice echoes)

:Sasuke and Naruto stare with wide eyes from the sidelines:

**Naruto: **Uhh... ^^"

**Sasuke: **Run. Don't even stop to think about it. Just _run. _O_O

**Kit: **XD


	5. Chapter 5: Where the Sun Doesn't Shine

_**Chapter 5: Where the Sun Doesn't Shine**_

**Warnings: **Ehh…some OOC--no violence in this chapter, so relax. ^^"

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Naruto—and never will, sad as it is…for meh. XD

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Hiya again! ^~^ …ehh….think I ran out of stuff to say… XD Lucky you! XDDDD (Just kidding. XD …or not. XD)

Ah, well—enjoy this chapter! ^_^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

~o~

Another day of peeling potatoes…and nothing more. The only difference was that for some odd reason, Kyuubi had not barged in once to yell at the children as he usually would.

The raven exhaled sharply and wiped his forehead. Who knew peeling vegetables could actually be hard work? …but that's only if you've been doing it for 7 hours straight…and when it was _eighty-seven_ frickin' degrees. He looked up and sighed.

Sasuke was about to grab another spud from the pile, when Naruto suddenly stood up.

"Come with me," the blue-eyed boy spoke blankly.

The Uchiha paused and stared at the latter with a stoic expression on his face. "Where?" And with that sentence, he looked around the room to see the rest of the children still busily working. "We can't just stop like this."

Silence.

"What if Kyuubi comes in here…" At that moment, he glanced at the cut on the blonde's cheek. _…and hurts you again, you stupid dobe...? _

The raven shifted his eyes towards the door.

"We're going to get in trouble," he finished.

But when he turned to face Naruto, that unique grin had appeared on his tan face yet again.

The raven blankly stared at the happy-go-lucky blonde.

The latter chuckled. "Who said we're gonna get in trouble?"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

"Kyuubi's gone into town for a while, so he won't be here for the time being." The blue-eyed boy extended his hand. "And I think now's a good time for a break, yeah? Come on—I want to show you something before he comes back."

Sasuke pursed his lips for a moment, then took the blonde's hand.

Naruto grinned and led him away, still holding the raven's hand.

But as the two walked on, they passed by a scowling Kiba.

"And where do you think you're going?" the brunette asked with a sharp tone.

The blonde paused and hung his head.

Kiba narrowed his eyes. "If you're sneaking outside, you're only gonna get us in trouble again." He clenched his fists. "…unless...you _really _don't give a damn about what happens to any of us."

He drawled. "Am I right, Naruto?"

No response. The Uchiha looked at the blue-eyed boy, whose head was still drooping.

Finally, Naruto turned his back on the brunette.

Kiba growled. "Hey!"

The blonde merely ignored the comment and walked away, still holding Sasuke's hand.

"I'm talkin' to you, Uzumaki!" Suddenly, he grabbed the latter's shoulder. "Don't you even think about walking away from me!"

Still no response from the blue-eyed boy, who merely shook off Kiba's hand and continued on.

"I'm not finished with you yet!"

The Uchiha briefly glanced at the brunette, who immediately sharpened his gaze, then turned back towards the blonde as he led him away.

At that moment, it was silent again between the two, with the exception of their footsteps crunching in the hay.

The raven pursed his lips. "Where exactly are we going?"

"…you'll see," Naruto replied.

Soon, the two were facing a small, narrow passage in the wall—the same opening that led to 'the usual spot,' they had decided to call it.

"Let's go," the blue-eyed boy spoke softly, sliding through the aperture.

Sasuke was about to follow the blonde, but he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment. He briefly glanced back, only to see the brunette still glaring at him, then slipped through the crack.

"Naruto?"

A short pause. "Over here."

The raven looked up to see Naruto out in the distance, standing in the tall grass with his head held high.

Hfe paused, then walked until he stood next to the blonde. "What is it?"

But the blue-eyed boy only grinned and lifted his arm. "Look."

Sasuke raised his head to look in the direction the blonde was gesturing to.

But all he could see was just…sky—nothing more.

After a few minutes, the raven turned to face Naruto and sighed. "Dobe—I don't see what you're trying to get here."

"Wait for it," the blonde replied, not shifting his gaze for even a second.

The Uchiha paused, then turned back to face the sky.

At that moment, it was a pale blue with dark purple clouds blending in. …but as he looked farther into the distance, it gradually became reddish pink—and then…orange.

He blinked at the sight.

And the center of it all was none other the Sun itself, emanating its bright yellow-orange light, as if there was a volcano erupting at the end of the horizon.

Yes, it definitely was a marvelous sunset, but not one the raven hadn't seen before. He still couldn't understand the latter's intentions for bringing him here.

Sasuke was about to open his mouth to say something, when he was cut off.

The blonde chuckled, then paused. "Did you ever notice how the sky…" He lifted his head higher. "…changes all the time?" Naruto finished with a grin.

The raven stared indifferently up above. "…yeah. What about it?"

"Heh. You know…I've always looked at the same sky every day…" the blonde began. "…but you know what?"

The Uchiha shifted his eyes towards the blue-eyed boy, still marveled by the wondrous view.

A slight grin appeared on the latter's tan face. "I've thought about this for a long time now, and…it actually kinda reminds me of…"

The raven listened patiently.

"The world we're living in right now."

A thin black eyebrow rose at the comment.

"How it's there's all sorts of colors and everything--like how we all blend in, even though we're all different."

Naruto turned to face Sasuke, his ocean-blue eyes deeper than ever. "What do you think?"

The Uchiha paused for a moment. Then he lifted his head high to look up at the sky.

The blue-eyed boy tilted his head. "...Sasuke?"

The raven stiffened a little, caught off guard by the sudden mood change. After a few minutes of searching for words, he finally spoke.

"Hn."

"What?"

Sasuke curved his lips, then continued on. "I have to say, dobe, this is really the most trivial thing we could ever talk about right now, but..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

He scratched his head. "Well…"

The raven looked at the blonde, who was eagerly waiting for his response. "I've looked at this sky…for probably as long as you have. And…"

Silence.

The Uchiha sighed. "I've always seen it…differently."

The blue-eyed boy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

No reply.

After a few minutes of silence, he looked back at the sky. "All this time, I've always kind of...hated the Sun."

"…why?"

The raven thought for a moment, then spoke. "Hn. A few years ago…someone told me that the Sun only shines in certain places at a time. If it's not shining here…it's shining somewhere else. …and if it's shining here, it's dark in another place."

Naruto listened eagerly.

Sasuke continued, staring at the sinking orange globe with a stoic countenance. "But sometimes when you think of it…"

He turned to face in the direction of the shack. "It's almost like…where the Sun's not shining--where it's dark and gloomy, everyone's always sad and…suffering—especially when it's cloudy or raining."

Then he looked back at the sinking orange globe. "And where the Sun _is _shining, everyone's always…_happy_."

The raven paused. "Hn. Every time I look at the sky, I always feel this slight...unfairness. It's like...the Sun prefers certain people over others. Like how everyone living on tropical islands always get more light than the ones living on the ice."

The blonde tilted his head.

"It's like the Sun…wants certain people…to have better lives than the rest of the world."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Or at least…that's what I think, based on what I was taught."

He finished, then turned to face the blue-eyed boy, who was still staring at the sunset.

Finally, Naruto spoke. "Well…I guess that's another way you can look at the sky." He grinned. "But…" He looked at the Uchiha. "I had something else in mind." And with that sentence, the blonde pointed straight at the center of the horizon.

The raven stared at the orange globe indifferently.

The blonde chuckled. "Every time _I _look up at the sky, I see the Sun as a sign of…_change_."

He raised his head higher. "A long time ago, somebody told _me…_that the Sun is why everything changes in this world." The latter lifted his arm. "Every time the Sun moves…the color changes. If you look where the Sun's left, it's all dark blue." He slightly shifted his hand forward. "But if you see where the Sun is now, at the front--it's all bright and orange…and not just because it's my favorite color."

The two chuckled. And coincidentally, dark blue was personally Sasuke's favorite color.

Naruto paused. "I know it might take you a while to understand this, but…I think of the Sun…as a bright future."

The Uchiha stood there silently.

"Sure—I understand how it's always dark when the Sun leaves, but that doesn't mean it'll always stay dark." The blonde softened his gaze. "I mean…it always comes out again in the morning, no matter what you do or say--so if you really think about it…it's actually something to look forward to every day—you know, kind of like what people call 'a ray of hope'." He sighed and chuckled. "Wow, I'm being really cliché here, but...that's how I feel. From how I see it, the Sun's something that everyone hopes to see--you know, so they can be happy—and then that becomes their very reason for even existing. And at the same time…"

"It can be a sign of change." The blue-eyed boy shifted his hand over. "Everywhere the Sun travels, the world changes…_as one._"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I know it might be hard to understand..." He scratched his head. "…but that's the best I can do with explaining things."

"Hn," the raven replied.

Suddenly, a solemn expression appeared on Naruto's face. "But…I still agree with what you think." He laughed quietly. "Sometimes…I feel the same thing—just that I didn't know what it was…until you brought it up."

The Uchiha shifted his eyes.

"And you're right--it's not fair that the Sun only shines in certain places at a time," he spoke, with a slightly sharper tone. He clenched his fists. "I mean…_everyone_ deserves to be happy, right?"

At that moment, Sasuke couldn't help but soften his gaze.

"Yeah."

The blonde paused, as if to compose himself—then let out a small laugh.

"But…wow." He turned to face the Uchiha. "Who was the one that told you about that? About the sky?"

The raven immediately froze.

"My father."

He looked up at the blonde to see him with a grin on his face.

"Wow…" Naruto began. "Then he must be a really good dad!"

Sasuke shrugged. "…yeah. I guess so." He paused. "So…who taught _you_?"

Suddenly, the morose expression appeared once again. The blue-eyed boy hung his head, and there was a brief moment of silence.

"My dad." the latter spoke, a little hurt in his tone.

The raven softened his gaze.

The blonde sighed, then dug into his pocket. He took out a pale blue object, with two ivory-polished turtledoves dancing together—the knife from before…

The latter clutched the small sheathed dagger and held it up to his face. "My dad…gave this to me as a gift…" He looked up at the sky, now dark with night and scattered with the same familiar stars. "He'd always bring me outside to look at the Sun…and the stars. He wanted me…to _be _that ray of hope--for the rest of the world…" His hand trembled a little. "He wanted me to _change _it...for the _better--_all of it…for _everyone. O_ne heart at a time." He slightly tightened his grip on the light blue hilt.

Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy turned to face in another direction. "I promised him that I would...and I made it my only reason...for even continuing to live this heck of a life."

The Uchiha followed the latter's gaze and saw that he was staring at the two brilliant stars again.

The blonde's body slightly shook. "I want to change the world and all the unfairness you said was in it. …I want to be the one to make sure the Sun shines--for _everyone_."

The raven frowned.

Naruto dropped down to his knees. "Someday…I want to be able to do all that—even if it means…"

Sasuke stared at the blonde with a blank countenance.

"…making myself unhappy."

The raven softened his gaze at the comment.

Suddenly, he changed the subject, his eyes tightening. "And I've even tried doing that here--for everyone back at the shack…" The latter lowered his head. "But…"

The Uchiha listened patiently.

"It just didn't work out."

He chuckled. "And every time I look up at these stars for help…" A small smile appeared on the tan, whiskered face. "It's always been my parents that pop up at the top of my head."

The blue-eyed boy turned to face the raven. "Do you think of your father as well?"

Sasuke was caught off guard by the sudden question. "Well…"

~Flashback~

Pant.

Pant.

Pant.

"_Sasuke! What are you doing!? Get up!"_

~Series of random memories~

"_You…are not living up to your potential!"_

"_Why can't you be more like Itachi!?"_

"_Wipe those tears immediately! Uchihas never cry!"_

"_You have disappointed me…yet again."_

"_Sasuke!"_

~End Flashback~

At that moment, the raven could still hear Fugaku's strident voice echoing in his head.

"…Sasuke?" the blonde asked.

"…hn." The latter paused. "He never did care for me."

At that moment, Naruto's ocean eyes deepened with confusion and curiosity.

The Uchiha chuckled, then he looked up at the night sky. "He wasn't exactly…the typical loving father you'd expect."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The latter paused and sighed. "Well…to start things off--he'd always punish me severely…for even the smallest mistake I'd make."

Naruto listened silently.

"From when I'd accidentally spill milk on the floor…to playing the wrong key on the piano."

He smirked grimly. "And I don't mean the usual scolding or any mild chastisement either. It's not like how Kyuubi treats you all here, beating all of you half to death. Just…cold-hearted." He clenched his fists.

The blue-eyed boy softened his gaze.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Hn. And that's not all. If…if I actually _tried--_and did do something right for a change…" He chuckled. "He wouldn't even bother to acknowledge me for it." The raven smirked. "Always favored my older brother. Always 'why can't you be more like him?' Not a single 'good job' or 'keep up the good work.'" He sighed.

"So you could say he didn't really care about how I felt--just how I'd benefit the prestigious family of Uchiha," Sasuke finished and paused, waiting for a response from Naruto.

But it didn't come.

He glanced back to look at the blonde…but only found him looking down at the grass with a solemn expression on his face.

Soon, the Uchiha noticed how the latter's ocean blue eyes deepened every second that passed.

He turned and stared at the blue-eyed boy with an impassive countenance.

After a few more minutes of silence, Naruto finally opened his mouth to speak. "Hm."

Sasuke listened patiently.

"From what you just said…" He paused. "…that's not true."

The raven raised an eyebrow.

"It's impossible. There's no such thing as a father who doesn't love his own kid." And with that sentence, he looked up at Sasuke intently.

The Uchiha stood there, slightly caught off-guard by the comment.

"Sure—I understand how you feel when he might neglect you or punish you for your mistakes in life, but…instead of thinking your father hates you…"

Sasuke waited eagerly for the rest of the comment.

"Don't you ever think he might actually be saying…he loves you?" the blonde finished.

Suddenly, the raven froze.

The latter scratched his head. "I know I'm not from your family or anything, but…"

The Uchiha stiffened even more, appalled by such a comment. "Then what makes you say that? How would _you _understand?"

The blue-eyed boy grinned and stared back at Sasuke, cerulean eyes still intent. "Come on, teme--just think outside the box for a minute."

Sasuke listened patiently.

"Every time you think your father shows malice when he punishes you…don't you ever wonder how he really feels? Every time you think he hates you for every slap in the face you get, don't you ever realize…"

He waited eagerly for the dobe's response.

"That it might just be doing that for making the same mistake in the future? That it might just be…his own special way of expressing how much he actually cares for you?"

The raven immediately shrank back.

"And when you think he's ignoring you, don't you ever think he's just…encouraging you to surpass your brother? Or maybe waiting for you to at least thank him—and love him back?"

The Uchiha's eyes widened, caught off-guard.

"It's not always about punishment and reward."

He shrank back in astonishment. "I…"

"I mean…how many times have you ever told your father you love him?"

Immediately, Sasuke froze, then looked down at the grass with a solemn expression on his face.

The blonde stared at the raven intently.

And after a few minutes of thinking, the Uchiha finally spoke with a slight smirk. "Hn."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I...actually don't know."

Suddenly, the raven's countenance became somber. "Hn. I always hated thinking 'outside' the box…"

That made the latter grin a little.

"But now that you mention it…I can't even remember the last time I said those words…"

Naruto softened his gaze.

"Or actually took the time to _think _about these things…" He frowned. Then the raven realized something. That expression on Fugaku's face after he had hit him--before he took off…how he had been speechless that whole time… His eyes widened, and he pressed his lips into a straight line. _C__ould it have been…_

Sasuke slowly lifted his head to look back at the blonde, who looked back at him curiously.

And at that moment, he couldn't help but smile, even if it was the slightest bit. _This kid…_

The blue-eyed boy tilted his head. "What?"

The raven smirked. "…hn."

"What is it?"

He paused. "You know…"

Naruto listened eagerly.

"At this rate--if you're able to understand others _this much_…and get people like me to actually _talk _about their feelings..." Sasuke chuckled. "…you might just be able to change the world the way you want it to…and make your dream come true--'one heart at a time.'"

Suddenly, the big pools of sapphire began to sparkle, and the raven softened his gaze.

At first, Naruto didn't know how to respond to the comment.

But then he smiled. "Do you really think so?"

"…yeah. And you know what?"

The blue-eyed boy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"…I might just help you with that."

The blonde grinned. At that moment, he looked up at the sky. "Heh."

The Uchiha looked in the same direction. "What?"

"The sky's turned black again."

After a few seconds, young Sasuke softened his gaze. "So it has."

Naruto chuckled. "Guess that means…"

He turned to look at the raven. "We can hope--for a brighter tomorrow."

~O~

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Well…I finally thought of something to say. XD I actually felt fluff in my heart while writing this chapter….and another thing—what Naruto mentioned about the connection between the Sun and the world…that's exactly the same way I feel, and sometimes…I go along with Sasuke's opinion, when I get really mad at the world. Sorry if their views still weren't clear enough for you to understand—I tried as hard as I could to put it in simpler words. ^^" But yeah—if you somehow have an idea of how the two of them were thinking, then good. ^_^ …but if you still don't seem to understand, feel free to ask me any questions you have—that's the whole point of reviews: I'll take any feedback you have either to improve my fic or give you the best understanding of the story. ^~^ And also—the whole thing that I mentioned with punishment and reward…was inspired by what I'm presently learning in BioEthics class. XD Just felt that I needed to add that in. ^^"

Oh--and I also think that the horizon is the most epic SasuNaru..er...landscape? ...view? ~.O Either way, to me, it's the greatest expression of SasuNaru you could ever see--like how Naruto mentioned--dark blue...and then bright orange at the very middle--how it all like...blends in, yeah? ^_^ So that's what I think every time I see a painting...or actually look up at the sunset--which I tend to do a lot. XD

Well, hope you liked this chapter and continue to wait patiently for the upcoming ones… XD And…:drops down on knees: …I pathetically beg of you all! T_T Reviews? Please? Anyone?

PLEASE? ^_^" …look, guys—I'm not asking for reviews every time to bug the hell out of you. XD …it's just that…I really need to know what you think so far. ^^" Or else I won't be able to know what to do to improve my fic towards your expectations (if I don't even know what they are.n.n") So…please? ^^"

Arigato! :bows:

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

***Yet another thing… ^^"** …I'm sorry if the plot might be going a bit slow for some of you, but I'm trying my best right now to keep it going without it being rushed. n.n" Now who likes a rushed fic that makes absolutely no sense? XD …anyways—sorry and I hope you'll consider bearing with me as I continue to write for this oversized plot bunny! ^^" However…the next chapter might actually wake you all up. :wink wink: XD Okie—ja ne! ^w^ :disappears in a poof of smoke:


	6. Chapter 6: Valiant

**Chapter 6: Valiant**

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Naruto—otherwise I would be swimming in a gigantic pool of money right now. XD But no—it is all Masashi Kishimoto's. =^_^=

**Warnings: **OOC…and yeah—the child abuse comes back in this chapter... ^^"

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Well—chapter 6. :slams hands on table: OBJECT--wait, what the heck? I shouldn't be objecting to this... XD But hey--couldn't help myself. (FTW Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. XDDD) Well, that's all I have to say for the moment… ^^" And yeah--this is early. Why? Because. it is. XD and. I am.

...bored out of my frickin' mind, and damn it my throat still frickin' hurts, I can't speak for my own frickin' self (And you can guess who had to be my personal spokesperson at school today... XD Yup, that's right--the **Silver **Surfer. XDDDD) and my nose is all frickin' stuffy and--GAH! T_T"...plus, I have to actually study (?) for this stupid "Performance-based Assessment" thingy for bio... O_O"

Ah, well anyways—enjoy! ^w^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

~o~.

Whistle.

Sasuke groaned and rolled over on his side, while Naruto merely stirred and snuggled closer to the raven next to him.

At that same moment, a breeze of wind blew past the two boys.

Then there was a louder whistle, which was now immediately familiar.

At that moment, both instantly opened their eyes and sat up. Almost immediately, they shrank back after seeing what was first a blur of green and light blue and soon realized that for some reason, they were still lying outside on the grass at the usual spot…

"Shoot," the blonde muttered, looking around. "Sasuke--just how long have we been out here?"

Suddenly, there was another shrill whistle coming from the other side of the shack.

Naruto flinched and quickly stood up, helping Sasuke to his feet as well.

"Never mind that, but it looks like he's back," the raven spoke with a cautious tone. "There's no mistaking that annoying whistle."

The latter whirled around to look in the direction of the shack. "We better get inside now before we get caught." And with that sentence, the two boys sprinted as fast as they could back inside.

Soon, they stood panting in front of the small opening in the wall, and tiptoed into the room, hoping that Kyuubi hadn't gone in yet.

But there was no sign of him yet. Immediately, Sasuke and Naruto rushed across the shack to get into their usual positions before the masked tyrant barged in.

However, they were forced to stop in their tracks when they saw all the children crowded around where the mountain of potatoes usually was.

The blonde nudged a boy's shoulder. "What's going on here?"

Instantly, the rest of the children turned around to look at the two, with either alarmed or irked expressions on their faces.

"Well," Kiba acidly spat out. "Look who finally came back."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this, Kiba--what the heck's happening? Why is everyone just standing here?"

The brunette scoffed. "Why don't you see for yourself, moron?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd dispersed to let Naruto and Sasuke through.

And almost immediately, their eyes bulged at what they had seen in front of them.

"W-what…" the blue-eyed boy almost gasped.

The raven only stood there, appalled by the unbelievable sight.

At that very moment, they could see that the mountain of potatoes…was no longer a mountain of potatoes. Instead, all they could see was a bunch of spuds scattered all over the shack floor, some bitten…and others half-eaten. It was _literally_ the biggest mess of mashed potatoes one could ever see.

Sasuke stiffened, his eyes widening even more. "Who could have done this?"

Naruto slowly shook his head. "This isn't good. This isn't good at all..."

Suddenly, there was another shrill whistle and the door banged open. Soon, Kyuubi could be seen standing in the threshold, his beady black eyes more malicious than ever.

The children whirled around with terrified countenances.

"Shoot," the blonde muttered.

The Uchiha turned around as well, but only to see the masked man raise an eyebrow at the worried expressions on each and every one of their faces.

He smirked behind his bandanna. "Awake already, now aren't ya? Ooh—and in a uniform grouping, too. Now, isn't this classy?" he drawled sarcastically.

Silence.

He nodded his head accordingly. "Hmm. And quiet, too." Suddenly, his mocking grin had turned into a scowl.

"Now…what are y'all hiding?"

Suddenly, the raven noticed some of the children around him gulp and cringe in fear.

The masked man smirked, his black eyes gleaming, and began to approach the crowd.

Finally, he stopped and stood in front of the large group of children.

"_Excuse me_," Kyuubi drawled, then laughed and started shoving children out of his way.

At that moment, the children began to move around in different positions, trying as much as they could to prevent the tyrant from getting through and seeing the catastrophe in the back.

But he knew a lot better than they did and merely continued pushing them out of the way.

Until he finally came down to Sasuke and Naruto, who immediately held their ground.

The masked man narrowed his eyes at the two, his mouth curving into a snarl behind his scarlet-red bandanna. "Let. Me. Through."

But they only stared blankly at him and shifted closer to each other.

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. "Being wise guys again here, are we?" And with that sentence, he grabbed both by the shoulder and shoved them in opposite directions, the two falling into separate stacks of hay.

"No…!" the blonde whispered, his cerulean eyes growing deeper with concern.

The older man merely ignored the comment and turned to face the front.

Almost immediately, his dark, black eyes became filled with rage and disbelief as he saw the most catastrophic mess he could have ever seen.

_"What in devil's name—"_

He whirled around to face the children. _"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE!"_ he roared, eyes shifting in different directions.

Kyuubi growled, stepping forward. _"Who is responsible for this…this SHIT!"_

The children cringed in fear. Even Sasuke himself couldn't help but shudder at the sound of the older man's irate voice.

He looked around, eyes darting this way and that. _"No answer, huh!"_

Naruto gulped.

Then he abruptly grabbed one of the children and dragged him out of the crowd by the collar of his shirt.

The raven squinted to see that it was a chubby, brown-haired boy, who was dressed in green and had a red swirl painted on each of his plump cheeks.

"Choji," the Uchiha heard the blonde whisper.

Suddenly, there was a whimper.

Sasuke turned to see the masked tyrant, viciously shaking the poor latter and holding him tightly by the shoulders.

_"It was you, now wasn't it!" _Kyuubi snarled. _"You ate my frickin' potatoes!"_

Choji shrank back, his hands trembling. "N-no, sir—I didn't eat any of them. I haven't eaten in weeks. I—"

_Slap._

The raven's eyes widened as the chubby boy, who now had a swollen black eye, fell to the ground.

The masked man growled. "What makes you think I can believe _that_, you FAT FUCK!" he roared, advancing on the latter to grab him by his shirt collar.

Choji winced.

He cackled evilly. "Now you're gonna pay _the ultimate price _for chowing down on my crops, fatso!" Kyuubi laughed villainously, and began shoving random children out of his way, dragging the poor kid towards the door.

The latter immediately froze upon hearing the comment and began kicking and screaming. "Please don't, Mr. Kyuubi! It wasn't me, honest!"

The masked man abruptly stopped in his tracks to narrow his eyes at Choji. "Shut up!" he growled, and devilishly raised his fist to punch him in the gut, when Naruto suddenly stood up.

"Stop it!" the blonde shouted, his blue eyes deep with intent.

The rest of the children shrank back, taken aback by the outburst.

The masked man turned to face Naruto. "What'd you say, you little shit?"

The blonde glared at Kyuubi. "You heard what I said! Now let Choji go, you monster!" he growled.

Sasuke's eyes widened. This was the first time he'd seen the blue-eyed boy act like this. So stupid and yet so...valiant. "Naruto…" he spoke softly.

But all the tyrant did was laugh mockingly. "Hahaha…trying to be a smartass here, too, aren't ya?"

The raven looked at the latter, but all he could notice was his blue eyes growing fiercer every minute.

He closed his eyes, recalling the an unforgettable comment that now ringed through his ears.

_"I want to change the world and all the unfairness you said was in it. I want to be the one to make sure the Sun shines--for everyone. ...one heart at a time."_

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to look at the blonde. _He really is taking his dream seriously..._

Then the masked man stopped laughing just as soon as he'd started, and gave the blonde a menacing look.

"You don't know _what_ the hell you're doing, brat." He narrowed his eyes. "Right now, I'm just about _pissed _at you all, so you better shut your mouth before I get _really _angry."

But Naruto didn't listen. "And what if I don't? I'm sick of you always coming in here and harassing us all!"

This really ticked Kyuubi off. "I'm warning you, kid. You're asking for it, and you don't want to push me to _that_ limit. Now mind your own damn business…" He raised his arm to point at the latter's cheek. "…unless you want a cut on the other one, too."

The blonde clenched his fists and his teeth, ignoring the threat. "Like heck I will!"

Immediately, the tyrant roared and grabbed Naruto.

Suddenly, the raven felt himself get up. "Wait!"

Kyuubi shifted his eyes towards the Uchiha. "We all wanna be smartasses around here, now don't we! Eh, Uchiha!" he snarled at Sasuke.

But the raven held his ground. "Hn. That idiot is my partner in peeling your stupid potatoes in the first place," he spoke unwaveringly with an impassive expression on his face. "So don't even think about laying a finger on him." He intensified his gaze. "If you're gonna involve him in this mess…" Sasuke looked at the ground. "…it only makes sense that you put the blame on me, too."

The blonde's eyes widened, surprised by the comment.

But the masked man merely laughed. "No. I don't think I will."

The raven looked up at the tyrant, who now had a smirk on his face. "Stop wasting my time, runt." And with that sentence, he dragged Naruto and Choji out the door. "And don't just stand there—get back to work already!" he ordered with a scowl. "All of you! You're on harvest duty now, so get outside, Uchiha!"

Before he slammed the door, Sasuke caught a glance at the blue-eyed boy, who now had a fearful look on his face.

As the door closed, the Uchiha softened his gaze, feeling remorse once again at the bottom of his heart.

~o~

At first, it was like deja vu, what with the dead silence in the shack--until everyone finally got around to working, afraid that Kyuubi might make another appearance.

But the raven stayed in his place, looking solemnly at the shack door, hoping that it would open again to release his friend, but it remained closed.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see it was Sai.

"Come on," he spoke dully. "…we don't want to get in any more trouble."

After a few minutes, Sasuke got up and followed the other raven outside.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **…poor Naru…and poor Choji… :sighs: Sorry—I had to make Kyuubi a real asshole in this chapter. = / And you'll all find that out later in the story—what happened in here just so happens to be a key event in the plot. ^^"

Stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens to Sasuke! ^~^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.


	7. Chapter 7: Bitter Memories of the Past

**Chapter 7: Bitter Memories of the Past**

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Chapter 7—finito. ^^" Yes-it's here early...again. XD But hey-I try. ^_^" ...most of the time. XD

Oh and another thing-really important...if you actually like this fic, that is. ^^"

If you haven't already known, I have an LJ now-which I'm using to post any updates on **Change of Heart **or any other random shit that pops into my head. XD And right now...I've got a sneak peek for Chapter 8... ~wO

But read Chapter 7 first! ^^" I strongly suggest this-or you'll be all...confuzzled! XDDD

So yeah-the link to my LJ's at the bottom of this page-just so you're not...tempted? XD

So yeah. Enjoy this chapter. ^~^

.::~*Kitsune*~::.

**Warnings: **Just some OOC—sorry. ^^" (Hey-I actually tried really hard this time to keep them all in character without screwing up the main plot. XD) And…some "bitter memories of the past," as you can see with the title… XD But still—I warn you of some child abuse in a few areas… n.n" May be somewhat graphic/scary...but you have been warned. O_O"

~o~

It had been three days. Three days since they were taken away. Three days since the raven had last seen Naruto.

And _seventy-two_ hours since the last time he'd actually heard the word "teme." This made the Uchiha feel a little emptiness in his heart.

It was afternoon, and Sasuke was sitting on the ground by the potato field, absently twisting his fingers around a few pieces of grass. And he was alone—yet again.

Suddenly, he heard soft voices in the distance.

"That's what he gets for trying to act all high and mighty."

"It's not his fault. Naruto was only trying to help."

"But poor Choji…"

"Yeah—poor Choji."

At that moment, the raven couldn't help but slightly raise his head to look at the ones who were talking.

A few feet away, he could make out four figures huddled together in a group, speaking softly to one another.

"I really don't believe he made that mess."

Sasuke squinted to see Gaara, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru standing in the tall grass.

"But he _is_ fat—even I can see that happening," Kiba remarked.

"That's still not enough proof he did all that," Neji spoke.

"I agree," the redhead concurred.

"No," Shikamaru began, looking up. "I _know_ Choji."

The three turned to look at the brunette.

He paused. "Sure, he might be er…_heavy_ and all, but…"

The latter listened eagerly.

Shikamaru sighed. "He's been my friend for what, six years now? All I know is that Choji's just not the type to do anything that troublesome—especially when he hasn't eaten anything in what, _months_?"

"Exactly!" Kiba shot back. "What if he went on one of his all-out eating frenzies, like every time Mr. Asuma treats us all to that barbecue buffet?"

The other brunette rolled his eyes. "And how long has it been since that's happened?"

"I don't know, _forever_?" the fanged one raised his voice. "Just how long has it been since we were dumped into this hellhole? The facts don't lie there, Nara."

"All right, that's enough, you two," Neji spoke.

Kiba pouted.

Shikamaru exhaled sharply. "Well, I guess you could say my eyes don't lie either, Inuzuka—I mean, who else would believe me if I said Choji Akimichi was sleeping like a log right next to me when all of a sudden, everyone woke up freaking out about some stupid heap of mashed potatoes at the front of the room? Now that was troublesome."

"Maybe to you, but not to us who actually care about whether Kyuubi bites our heads off or not!" the fanged brunette shot back.

"At least someone actually tried to help the poor guy…!"

Kiba shrank back. "What, you mean that blonde idiot?"

Shikamaru sighed. "As stupid as it may sound, yeah—I'd have to side with Naruto on this one."

The Uchiha held his breath when he heard the blonde's name and shifted closer to listen to their conversation.

The fanged brunette rolled his eyes. "And tell me, Nara—did he actually help poor Choji in the end? No, I didn't think so. I mean, all he did was yell at the man and make things a lot worse. Since _when_ has he really helped us out?"

There was a pause. "Inuzuka, come on…you got cut him some slack on this one…"

"As if he would deserve any," Kiba spoke coldly. "After what he did that day…I don't think I ever will."

Silence.

At that moment, Sasuke became curious. What did he mean by that?

The fanged brunette continued. "Oh, and to add to that…he's got a new recruit now, right?"

Shikamaru paused. "…Kiba…"

But the latter went on. "The fox and his shadow, I should say-I mean, when have you not seen the two of them together?"

The raven froze.

"I bet he's filling his head now with all sorts of ideas to get us all killed and probably some other mumbo-jumbo about _changing the world _and blah blah blah..."

Sasuke looked up with a blank expression.

At that moment, the fanged brunette shifted his eyes to glance at the Uchiha. "Don't turn around now, 'cause I think he's actually looking at us."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and turned away, not wishing to hear any more of the conversation. But at the same time, something caught his eye.

He shifted his eyes towards the wired fencing. Sure—he'd seen this before when the masked tyrant dragged him in, but there was something he missed.

Sasuke squinted and took a few steps forward to see what looked like a damaged part of the fence where the wires were messed up and could easily be pulled apart…

_An escape route?_ the raven thought. And at that moment, he began walking towards the wired fencing.

Kiba scoffed. "I mean, look—he's tried to take part of the blame for poor _Naruto-kun_…" he gibed. "Don't you think that's already strike one?"

Neji sighed. "You can't blame him. After all, he and Naruto are somewhat the same…"

The fanged brunette laughed mockingly. "Oh, is that so, Hyuga? Well, what about Uchihas, huh? Aren't they all the same?"

Shikamaru exhaled sharply. "You can't just say that, Inuzuka—look, you've probably hurt the kid's feelings now."

"Oh, really now? I bet his heart's just as cold as the rest of them!"

"Kiba…" Neji muttered.

"Enough," Gaara spoke. "Inuzuka, you've gone over the edge. That's enough."

And at that moment, all turned to look back at where they thought the young Uchiha was still standing, but found themselves only staring at an empty patch of grass.

"Where did he—" Shikamaru began.

Suddenly, Kiba ran off, breaking into a sprint towards what the remaining three could see was the direction of that spot…

At that point, Sasuke was only a few inches away from the messed up section of the fence when suddenly…

"Hey!"

But before the raven could turn around, he already found himself sprawled on the ground, Kiba holding back both of his arms.

The Uchiha sighed. "Let go of me, you idiot." And with that sentence, he tried to pull away from the fanged brunette.

But Kiba only tightened his grip. "Who are you calling an idiot, Uchiha?"

The latter sighed and narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "You, dog breath—for holding me back when I've actually found something to get you all out of this dump."

"Huh. Like what?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Hn. An escape route, perhaps?" And with that sentence, he pointed behind him and was about to get up again when the fanged brunette pulled him back down.

This time, the raven couldn't help but actually lose some of his patience.

"All right," he spoke, turning around to face Kiba. "What the heck is your problem?"

At that moment, the fanged brunette finally lost his cool and immediately jerked the Uchiha up to his feet and held his head an inch from what he thought to be "an escape route."

The section was somewhat sealed up with yellow tape and there was what looked like a cardboard sign hanging from the tape. It read, in big black letters: '**ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.**'

Kiba growled. "You see that?" And in an instant, he turned the Uchiha's head to look in another direction.

Close by the somewhat sealed opening, the two could make out a large, white dog that looked a lot like a vicious coyote tied to the wires…

Suddenly, the two boys pulled back after hearing a series of low growls coming from the dog.

At that point, Sasuke was…stunned? He stood there in the tall grass, still half scared out of his mind from looking at the monster.

_How did I actually miss that?_ The raven thought to himself. He was just about to open his mouth to speak, when the fanged brunette cut him off.

"You are my problem," Kiba spat out, acid dripping in his tone. "Both of you." With that sentence, he shoved the latter away and turned his back on him. "…and you Uchihas just make me sick. If you want to be Oka-_mutt_'s dinner for tonight, then be my guest." The fanged brunette exhaled sharply and stormed back to the shack.

And for the first time, Sasuke actually didn't know how to respond to that. He could only concentrate a memory running through his mind.

_"Do you have any farm animals?" _the raven had asked.

_"Some—got a dog named Okami," _the man had replied.

_"Really?"_

_"Yup."_

~o~

After a few minutes, Gaara walked over to the raven.

The Uchiha stared at the redhead with an impassive countenance.

Gaara paused and closed his eyes. "You know…he wasn't always like this…and neither was Naruto Uzumaki."

The raven blankly looked up into the latter's sea foam eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

The redhead closed his eyes and extended an arm out to Sasuke.

The Uchiha took it, and Gaara helped him up on his feet.

The redhead continued. "Back then, the two of them were actually best friends…but that was a long time ago."

The raven looked at Gaara. "What happened that day?"

The latter opened his eyes and turned to face Sasuke with a stoic expression on his face. "It's not really my place to tell you…" he trailed off, glancing at the shack.

"…but we'll tell you anyway," another voice spoke.

The Uchiha turned around to see Shikamaru and Neji approaching him with solemn countenances.

The redhead looked at Neji with somewhat questioningly, and the brunette merely nodded.

Gaara sighed, then spoke. "It was a day just like this, except we were all new to the place."

He paused for a second to look at the three, then went on. "We had all been kidnapped and dragged here by the same man, and for some reason, we all knew each other because our parents had been good friends. But we still didn't know why we were whisked away to the same spot, or better yet, what Kyuubi's problem was. He just took us away, one by one…just like that."

The redhead stopped to look at the raven. "You're considered fresh meat here, so you wouldn't be able to understand just yet."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Gaara continued. "Anyway, we were all obviously miserable here, as we are now, especially after being tormented by that fool over and over again…"

The Uchiha softened his gaze.

"…but for some reason, that never bothered Naruto Uzumaki or Kiba Inuzuka."

At that moment, the redhead couldn't help but smile a little, which he rarely ever did.

Shikamaru chuckled. "You could say that they were the clowns of the century. Best buds."

Sasuke smirked.

"But it was odd," Neji added.

The three turned to look at the brunette, who still had a solemn expression on his face.

"…why?" the raven asked.

The Hyuga paused, then spoke. "Well…for one thing, life had been the most brutal to them than the rest of us."

The Uchiha listened patiently.

Neji continued. "To be frank here, both of them had their homes burnt down and destroyed…and their parents killed by the same man. You can guess who that was."

Sasuke frowned.

"But for some odd reason…they acted as if nothing like that ever happened and always shook it off their minds." He paused.

"Every time we mentioned the slightest detail about it to them…they always said that they didn't give a damn about what happened to them," Shikamaru began. "…but that's only when they were in the presence of their friends…us."

"Yeah," Gaara added. "Then after that, they'd walk away with big grins on their faces."

Suddenly, there was a pause.

Then, Neji broke the silence. "Back then…we used to have one more person trapped in this shack as well." His eyes tightened.

Shikamaru took it from there. "Her name was Hinata."

There was another pause, but longer.

"She had been the only girl to be kidnapped by that wretched fool, mostly likely because her parents had been close friends with Neji's parents…" Gaara trailed off.

The Uchiha stared at the redhead with a blank expression on his face.

"…really close friends." Gaara finished.

"Anyway," Shikamaru began. "Kiba…had taken a shine to her since the first day—and it was the same with Hinata." He looked at Sasuke. "Kind of how you and Naruto are right now."

Almost immediately, the raven shrank back at the remark and narrowed his eyes.

At that moment, the brunette flinched and began to scratch his head. "Oh, not like that—I mean, as in…uh, you know—very close friends?"

Sasuke relaxed a little, but still kept his eyes narrowed.

"Moving on," Neji continued. "It was pretty much the same with Naruto—with Kiba, I mean. But not how you're thinking right now, Uchiha."

The raven rolled his eyes.

The Hyuga continued. "Anyway, it was like this—if Kiba was happy, Naruto was happy. And that also went for Hinata, who also seemed to like Naruto as well." He paused. "Kiba was…somewhat okay with this. And together, Kiba and Naruto became our…'sparks of enthusiasm,' you might say."

All but the Uchiha couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Neji stopped for a minute. "Then there was this one day when the two knuckleheads somehow found that messed up section of the fence that you now see before you."

There was a long pause, and all four turned to look at that very spot.

"They had both planned an escape route," Shikamaru began. "And here's how it was."

Another pause.

The spiky-haired brunette continued. "They'd wait one night for Kyuubi to finally fall asleep, and they made sure of this after finding out he always turned off his house lights right before going to bed. Then, we'd take that chance to quietly walk over to that specific spot on the fencing and finally escape through the loose wires by pulling them apart. And yes—we did go through all that, and we would have actually gotten out of here, except…" he trailed off.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"…something happened." Gaara spoke.

At that moment, the Hyuga cleared his throat. "We were all able to climb out through the fence, but…"

The raven listened patiently.

"…Hinata got her foot caught in the very wires of the fence itself."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Neji closed his eyes.

Shikamaru continued from there. "We had all gotten out…almost all of us. And Kiba had wanted to go back for her." He paused.

"But for the sake of saving the rest of us who had already climbed out…" the redhead began. "Naruto wanted to keep going without turning back to help poor Hinata, as painful as it was to him because this had been the first time he'd been put in a situation like this."

"And then," Neji broke in. "Kiba got angry and began arguing with him, until finally he ran back to help the poor girl."

Shikamaru went on with the story. "But just by arguing with Naruto in the first place…and even helping Hinata get her foot free by twisting all the wires, the guy didn't realize that so much noise had already been made that Kyuubi's house lights had already turned back on."

"And at that moment," Gaara began. "Uzumaki ran back to help the two of them, seeing that the masked tyrant had finally woken up and was heading in their direction."

"We all went back," Shikamaru spoke. "We all went back to help them frantically, after hearing Kyuubi's loud and threatening voice."

The Hyuga clenched his fists. "But it was too late. He had already seen us trying to escape, and we had all been caught."

The raven's eyes widened.

"We'd expected our punishment to be the severest we could ever get from that man, but…" the spiky-haired brunette trailed off.

"It wasn't like that for us at all," the redhead finished, with a dark tone. "Instead…"

"He had taken poor Hinata away," Neji continued. "Kyuubi literally ripped her away from poor Inuzuka and took her into his home."

There was a stormy atmosphere among them.

"Then, the next morning…" the Hyuga went on.

"We found out that he had ruthlessly harassed the poor girl in his own room and then killed her mercilessly with heaven knows what," Gaara finished.

Sasuke's eyes bulged.

Shikamaru closed his eyes. "We even heard her piercing scream from here—and that was the last we'd heard from Hinata."

The Uchiha's gaze became intent.

"But that's not all," the Hyuga added.

The raven raised his head.

Gaara spoke, his tone unwavering. "We saw him take his axe from outside…and bring it into his room. Then, after a few minutes…"

"We saw him come out…with a wheelbarrow," the spiky-haired brunette finished.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he felt himself hold his breath for a second.

Neji exhaled sharply. "And then…we saw him go out into the back. Soon, we could see bright orange embers coming from the back of Kyuubi's house, and after a while…" he trailed off.

"…there was a smell," the redhead finished. "A very foul smell-one that none of us would ever forget."

There was a moment of silence.

Then the raven froze, a chill running down his spine. _"But don't worry—I got a big fireplace in my house that keeps us all toasty warm every night,"_ the man had said...

"And from that point on…" Shikamaru began. "We realized…just what had become of poor Hinata."

The Uchiha's gaze became intent.

"Since then," Gaara began. "Things had never been the same between Uzumaki and Inuzuka." He closed his eyes. "But mostly…it was all Kiba's doing, since he was the one who decided not to trust or make contact with Naruto ever again, _and _he had blamed him for Hinata's death."

"And later on…" Neji added. "…we _all _started ignoring him, even when we didn't realize it. Since then…"

"…Naruto stopped smiling. He's always been desperately trying to do something to gain back our trust and make things right between him and Kiba once again." The redhead finished. "But eventually…he just gave up."

Sasuke looked at the three with a blank countenance.

"That is, until everything changed when he met _you._" Shikamaru added.

The raven's eyes widened.

The spiky-haired brunette closed his eyes. "Ever since you came along, Naruto started trying again-with double the amount of effort. And sometimes, I feel sorry for the kid, since up to now, everyone's always turning their backs on him."

The Uchiha looked up at Shikamaru. "Then why don't you help him yourself?"

"Because…" Gaara trailed off.

"We're afraid of what's gonna happen if we actually do." The spiky-haired brunette finished.

"After what happened, we're still a little unsure about supporting Naruto again, especially because the majority of us here still don't trust him. Take Kiba, for example," Neji spoke.

"And from how it all looks…" Gaara trailed off.

"You may as well be the only one who can help him," Shikamaru finished.

All but the raven nodded slowly with solemn expressions on their faces.

At first, the Uchiha shrank back at the comment, not knowing how to respond...or even _think_ about it.

But then he thought of Naruto the day he'd first met him face to face. Those dull eyes and that stoic countenance. Now that was one thing that the raven actually couldn't stand seeing.

Not after he'd heard the boy laugh for the first time. And not to mention that idiotic, _ridiculously_ huge grin on his face, which he wasn't even sure he'd ever see again from the dobe.

At that moment, Sasuke softened his gaze and looked back at the shack, where he could see a shadowy figure-a silhouette that looked like...Kiba?

And it was in fact, Kiba Inuzuka-standing outside and staring aimlessly at the evening sky with a rigid countenance.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Wow…:stares down at fingertips: did I actually _write _that? O_O" Damn-that was frickin' graphic with Hinata... O_e"; And yeah-Kiba's kind of OOC in here-but think about what he had to go through with Hinata. n.n";

I'm really sorry about all the…"unpleasant" moments...but it had to be like that, as painful as it was to actually write it all out. ^^" Sigh…now I miss Naruto… T_T

Stay tuned for the next chapter! ~wO And please review, people-PLEEEAAASSSEEE? ^_^" REVIEW IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE NARUTO AGAIN...ALIVE. O_O

Oh-and here's the link to my LJ (also on my FF profile. ^^"):

.com/

.::~*Kitsune*~::.


	8. Chapter 8: Forgiveness

_**Chapter 8: Forgiveness**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **Happy Memorial Day, everyone! ^w^ Other than that, ehh…nothing much at the moment. ^^"

**Warnings: **OOC...and I think that's it. ^^"

~o~

"_Sasuke!"_

Groan.

"_Please!"_

"Not this again…" the raven muttered.

"_No! Stop!"_

"Leave him alone…"

"_Sasuke! Run!"_

"Who…are you?" The Uchiha groaned and flipped over on his side.

"_No!"_

At that moment, beads of sweat began to form on the raven's pale neck.

"_S-sasuke! Don't leave me!"_

"No…"

"_Please—help me! Please! Don't let him take me!"_

"Shut up…"

"_Sasuke!"_

"No!"

At that moment, the Uchiha quickly sat up, panting and looking around the room to see that it had been yet _another _nightmare—the same one he'd been having almost every night now since when he'd first arrived here.

He sighed and scratched his head. Then, he couldn't help but look at the empty spot next to him on the usual patch of hay.

His gaze softened.

"_I want to change the world and everything bad you said was in it…one heart at a time."_

Then, Sasuke looked around to see the rest of the sleeping children.

"_I tried to do that here, but…it just didn't work out."_

The ebony black eyes of the Uchiha became deep with…concern?

At that moment, the raven stood up and absent-mindedly walked to the usual spot.

~o~

The crickets were chirping and the tall grass was soaked in dew, as usual.

On the other hand, the stars and moon up in the night sky were also glowing marvelously, but this time, it seemed as if their light was a bit _weaker_ than before.

Sasuke looked up and searched until he found the two unique stars, which were still outshining the rest up above.

He closed his eyes.

"_You know…every time I come out here…those two same stars are always there, always outshining all the other ones in the sky…but not counting the moon, Heh—it's like…they're just…there. And if for some reason…I feel sad, they just…shine even brighter." _

"Chirp," a cricket piped.

A breeze of wind blew past the raven's face.

He scratched the back of his head and began twirling his fingers around a few blades of tall grass.

_Why do I…even bother? _The latter thought.

"_You may as well be the only one who can help him," _Shikamaru's words rang in the Uchiha's ears.

"Whoosh," the wind blew.

_I've only known the kid for…a few days? _

Sasuke turned to look around in the serene atmosphere and soon found himself looking at _that spot _on the fence again. But this time, he didn't dare get up to approach it.

_Naruto… _he thought to himself. _…you dobe. _The raven stiffened.

Suddenly, the Uchiha heard footsteps coming from behind and immediately whipped his head around.

It was Kiba, who had an impassive expression on his face.

Sasuke blankly looked back. "What do you want now?"

But no answer came from the brunette's lips. Instead, the latter merely walked over next to the raven and sat down.

Silence.

Finally, Kiba spoke in a soft tone. "You know…this was _her _favorite spot to hang out, too." He looked up at the sky.

The Uchiha listened quietly.

The brunette chuckled. "She'd always take me out here to look at the stars…with _him._" With that sentence, Kiba gestured towards another direction. "Heh. Especially those two."

Sasuke turned to see a pair of familiar stars, their light a little dull, but still brighter than the rest on the night sky.

Then the brunette sighed. He turned and looked in the direction of the infamous, damaged section of the fence.

Kiba's eyes deepened with sadness.

At that moment, a memory ran through Sasuke's mind.

"_Since then, things had never been the same between Uzumaki and Inuzuka." _

The raven's eyes softened slightly. "They told me…what happened."

The brunette looked at the raven, then turned away. "So they did." He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

The Uchiha waited patiently.

"He was my friend, too, to tell you the truth," Kiba finally spoke. "_He _was...my best friend."

Sasuke stared back with a blank expression on his face.

"But," The brunette winced. "I _cared_ for her."

~Kiba's Flashback~

"_Kiba, please! Answer me!" _the blonde had begged.

"_Shut up. Just…shut up."_

"_Kiba…" _young Naruto spoke quietly.

The brunette immediately whirled around. _"What gives you the right to even speak to me anyway!"_

Naruto shrank back. _"I…"_

Kiba growled. _"It's your fault for not helping her in the first place! We could have saved her!"_

No response.

But the brunette went on. _"It's your damn fault she's gone!"_

The blonde cringed.

"_We could have saved her! She would have been standing here with us if you had just listened to me! But no—all you wanted to do was keep going! You didn't give a damn about what happened to her at all! All you cared about was saving your own sorry ass—"_

"_Shut up." _Naruto cut him off.

Kiba narrowed his eyes at the blonde. _"If Hinata was here, I bet she would—"_

"_Shut up!" _the blonde yelled, tackling the brunette to the ground.

The fanged boy glared up at the latter. _"What else is there to say, Naruto? Hinata's gone, and there's nothing you can do about it."_

Naruto cringed. _"…I cared for her, too, you know."_

Kiba paused. _"Then why didn't you want to go back for her! You wanted to leave her in the dust! Just like that!"_

"_It's not like I wanted to do that," _the blonde replied. _"I had to do what was best…for everyone else. I had to do what I could to help them first."_

"_Everyone else!" _the brunette roared. _"The hell with everyone else! What about Hinata? She goes along with 'everyone else!'"_

"_Hinata knew what was happening. I could see it in her eyes."_

"_What's that supposed to mean! I don't need a frickin' lecture on utilitarianism, you moron!"_

Naruto paused. _"You wouldn't understand."_

Kiba growled and shoved Naruto away. _"Get out of my sight. I don't wanna have anything to do with you ever again."_

Dead silence.

The brunette closed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "_Good riddance to you." _

He turned to walk away, but before taking a step forward, he thought he heard the blonde mutter.

"_Kiba…I'm sorry."_

The fanged boy paused for a second.

"_It's not like I wanted all this to happen."_

No reply.

"_I only tried to…help as many people as I could. Was that so wrong?"_

~End Flashback~

He closed his eyes and turned away. "I…still think of him as my friend."

Sasuke listened patiently.

"And I know it's not his fault that it happened. I forgave him long ago."

The Uchiha stared back with a stoic countenance.

"It's just that…I just couldn't actually say it to his face. Even now. I mean…" Kiba sighed. "…I still can't look at him. Not after what happened to Hinata. And yet he still tries so damn hard to cheer us all up…" He exhaled sharply. "I need time to think."

No response.

The fanged boy turned to look at the raven. "You don't have to say anything to that."

The raven only stared at him blankly.

Kiba paused. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you earlier. I didn't mean what I said—I was just angry."

"Hn," Sasuke merely uttered.

The brunette sighed and scratched the back of his head. "You know, I always did feel sort of...uncomfortable around you Uchihas. But don't worry about it—it's sort of a family thing."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow questioningly.

The fanged boy chuckled. "Er…let's just say my mom didn't really get along with your dad…"

At that moment, Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. "She knew my dad?"

"…yeah." Soon, Kiba became silent. "My mom…" He looked up at the sky.

The raven softened his gaze.

After a few minutes, the brunette sighed and got up. "We better get back inside now. It's kind of late." He extended his hand to help the latter up.

But Sasuke only stared at Kiba's hand and thought. Finally, he spoke. "Maybe later."

The brunette raised an eyebrow.

The raven smirked. "I still want to think a little more."

The fanged boy smirked back and slowly pulled his hand back. "All right then, Uchiha." He turned to go back inside the shack, but stopped for a second.

"Hey, Uchiha?"

"Hn."

Kiba paused. "…don't ever leave Naruto's side. He's the best friend you'll ever have." And with that sentence, he walked away.

At first, Sasuke froze after hearing that last comment, then slowly lifted his head to look back at the stars.

His face became rigid_._

_~xXx~_

"_And later on…"_ Neji had added_. "…we all started ignoring him, even when we didn't realize it. Since then…"_

"…_Naruto stopped smiling. He's always been desperately trying to do something to gain back our trust and make things right between him and Kiba once again. But eventually…he just gave up."_

_~xXx~_

At that moment, he remembered that day when he heard the blonde's laugh.

"_Ahahaha! Stop it! Stop it, teme!"_

A solemn expression appeared on Sasuke's face.

_Why the heck am I even thinking about him again? It's none of my concern._

More of Naruto's laughter could be heard by the Uchiha.

_Grr…shut up already, dobe._

He heard even more of the blonde's laughter ringing through his own ears.

At that point, he couldn't help but smile a little. How he missed that sound. But then he frowned.

~Series of Flashbacks~

"_Oh…him. That's Naruto."_

"_Hn,"_ the raven had replied indifferently_. "Why isn't anyone…talking to him? I mean…it's as if they're all…ignoring him. …is there a particular reason…why?"_

"…_no, not really. I dunno…we just…do."_

_~xXx~_

"…_hey…Sasuke?"_

"…_we're friends now, right?"_

~End Flashback~

Sasuke sighed and got up to finally walk back to the shack.

~o~

It was now early morning, but still dark outside.

The Uchiha looked around to see the rest of the children still sleeping soundly in their positions and began to feel a little drowsy as well.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes, then walked over to his usual "makeshift bed" and lay down.

Soon, after a few minutes had passed, the raven was just about to close his eyes.

That is…until he heard a low growl and rustling sound coming from behind.

At that moment, Sasuke's eyes flew wide open, and he immediately sat up to see what had made the noise.

But to his surprise, there was nothing there.

After a while, the Uchiha scratched his head and lay back down on the pile of hay, assuming that he merely just had another nightmare.

Soon, his eyes were about to close, and he was just about to fall asleep.

When suddenly he thought he heard a blood-curdling scream echo through the air.

At that moment, the following word popped into the raven's head.

_Naruto?_

Almost immediately, the raven began to sit up again, but then stopped himself.

No way. He was half-asleep already. It had to have been his nightmare again.

At first, Sasuke hesitated on whether or not to believe this, but ended up falling asleep anyway out of exhaustion.

~o~

The sun had just begun to rise, and it was still early in the morning.

All of the children in the shack were still sleeping soundly in their spots.

Except for the usual raven, that is.

The Uchiha groaned and rolled over on his side.

~Sasuke's Nightmare~

The raven was running, no—_sprinting_ as fast as he could.

He was panting and looked around him, but could only see darkness.

_Where am I? _the Uchiha thought.

At that moment, he heard an evil cackle coming from behind.

Sasuke was about to look back to see who it was, but then he felt a tug on his right arm.

Almost immediately, he turned to see a shadowy figure with bushy hair running just an inch ahead of him, holding onto his hand tightly at the same time.

"Come on!" the silhouette spoke.

Suddenly, another devilish laugh came from behind, and this time, the raven whipped his head back to see where the sound was coming from.

What he saw was…_terrifying. _

At first, only pitch-black darkness could be seen from behind.

Until suddenly, a pair of big, piercing-red eyes emerged from the blackness and a mouth with razor-sharp teeth appeared just below it.

"I'm gonna get you, kiddies!" the monster's voice echoed from behind.

_What is this?_

At that moment, the Uchiha felt yet another tug on his arm.

"We've got to hurry!" the running shadow spoke with a cautious tone.

After hearing another cackle from the monster, the raven nodded and ran faster without a word.

But for some reason, it didn't make much difference at all, for the monster's raucous laughter only grew louder and louder every second and was gaining on the two.

"Shoot," Sasuke muttered and sprinted even faster, now an inch ahead of the silhouette holding his hand. He turned to the latter.

"Hurry up!" the raven panted, drops of sweat forming on the nape of his neck. And without hesitation, he immediately increased his speed, not even daring to look back at the monster's malevolent gaze.

Suddenly, he felt yet another tug on his arm from the running figure and heard a cry.

But this one was different, and caused the Uchiha to whip his head back.

The silhouette had fallen and was now lying on his stomach, a foot away from the raven.

"Sasuke!" the latter yelled, extending a hand out towards the Uchiha.

_What am I doing just standing here?_

Immediately, Sasuke ran back for the figure, reaching his arm out to grab his hand, but it was too late.

At that moment, the raven's eyes widened after seeing two big black arms reach for the silhouette and wrap around him.

"Sasuke!" the figure screamed again. "Please! Don't leave me behind!"

_Who are you…? _the Uchiha thought.

"Let go of me!" the silhouette shouted, then turned back to face the raven. "Please! Help me!" He reached out again to grab the Uchiha's hand.

_How do you know my name?_

"Sasuke!" the figure cried out.

_Who are you?_

"Help me!"

_Who are you—?_

~End Nightmare~

Suddenly, the raven's eyes flipped open after hearing a series of loud rapping sounds.

Sasuke scratched his head and sat up only to see everyone else awake and staring in the direction of the shack door.

At that moment, he realized the noise was coming from the door, the rapping sounds growing louder and more frantic every second.

The Uchiha turned to look at the other children, but they only sat there with rigid expressions on their faces, not moving a muscle.

The knocks grew louder and more consistent, yet no one budged from their positions.

_Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock._

Finally, the raven got up and walked towards the door.

But before he lifted his hand to open it, he looked back at the children, staring back at him with worried countenances, which made the Uchiha hesitate.

Until he heard a somewhat familiar voice.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Let me in! It's me! Please!"

At that moment, the rapping sounds grew even louder.

Sasuke's eyes softened, but he still hesitated and looked back at the children.

"Don't open it," one boy said. "It might be a trap."

This time, the knocks turned into bangs and became even more insistent.

"Please!" the voice cried out.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

At that point, the raven couldn't hold back any longer and placed his hand on the door.

"Don't do it…" the boy spoke again.

But the Uchiha couldn't hesitate any more. A life was at stake here. What if he was in trouble?

Sasuke gulped.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Please! Let me in!" the voice begged earnestly.

_What if it's…_

At that moment, the raven pulled the door wide open, and what he saw made the children's eyes widen, including his own.

There was immediate silence in the shack.

"Dobe..." the raven uttered softly, his eyes bulging and mouth gaping.

The short, blue-eyed blonde with bushy hair that everyone knew was standing in the doorway.

But there was something different about him...very, _very_ different. So different it was _wrong._

His clothes were torn and dirty, and the poor boy's caramel tan skin was now covered in purple-red bruises and deep cuts, especially on his neck and face. What's more, the bright, shining ocean blue eyes that the Uchiha was so used to seeing were now as dull as a sky on a rainy day.

Like the stars he'd seen last night.

Sasuke stood there, dazed by the appalling sight in front of him and at a loss for words.

The blonde groaned and staggered towards the raven.

"Teme…" he uttered weakly.

Suddenly, the latter fell forward into the Uchiha's arms.

Sasuke's eyes widened even more as he saw the deep cuts all over Naruto's face.

But what was more breathtaking was the huge stain of blood on the blonde's side...

"Naruto…" the raven muttered softly.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the rest of the children.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan: **So Sasuke's nightmare...is based on a nightmare I've had in the past-except it was different for me (of course. ^^") and believe me-it was NOT pretty. O_O" And after that...I never went to bed without a plushie in my arms ever again. ^^"

And let you in on a little secret-

...up to this day, I _still _sleep with plushies. XD But you know what?

They're Naruto and sasuke plushies-so yeah. What now? *snaps fingers in a z formation* XDDD

.

.

.

And damn... T_T Poor Naruto… It really _hurt_ for me to have to write that part out... TT_TT REALLY. But it only gets sadder after that... T_T

What will Sasuke do now? Will Naruto be okay?

Stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens next! O_O

REVIEWS WOULD BE HELPFUL AT THIS POINT NOW... ^^" _REALLY _HELPFUL. n.n";

As usual-updates on **Change of Heart **are on

.com/

Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.


	9. Chapter 9: The Loss of a Friend

_**Chapter 9: The Loss of a Friend**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

The moment you've all been waiting for…well, most of you. XD *sigh*

So what _did _happen to Naruto? O_O

All I can say now…is READ. READ like your frickin' life depends on it. ^^"

'Kay! Shutting up nouu! XD

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

*'Nother note: I'm posting this as I go—forget about waiting a week exactly. ^^" When I'm finished writing the chapter, I'm finished. ^_^";

As usual, updates/sneak peeks/random discussion are on my LJ (link's on my profile-for some reason, I can't put it up _here..._ ^^")

~o~

_Shoot, _the raven thought, looking at the poor blonde's cuts and bruises.

Sasuke gulped. _How?_

Again, his eyes shifted towards the poor blonde's bleeding side.

He clenched his teeth. _Just what the hell did he do to him now?_

Suddenly, Naruto shivered and coughed violently.

At that moment, the raven held the blonde close, trying to calm him down and at least reduce his coughing. And while doing that, he felt himself reach for the latter's trembling hand.

But by the time his hand made contact with Naruto's, the Uchiha flinched and his eyes widened.

_Damn—his hands. They're so…so __**cold.**_

Another jerk came from the blonde's cringing body.

"Dobe…" the raven muttered quietly. "What happened?"

Suddenly, Naruto's lips parted slightly.

"It was horrible…just _horrible,_" the latter managed to gasp, and shuddered. "Please…you have to h-hide me…from _him._"

At that moment, Sasuke heard murmuring and whispering behind him.

He turned around and stared at the crowd of children with an impassive expression on his face.

And the children stared back at the raven.

It was silent in the shack for a while, until the blonde shivered again.

At that minute, there was a shuffle among the crowd and a murmur.

The Uchiha turned, and saw that it was Shikamaru, shoving his way to the front of the crowd.

When he was finally standing in front of the two boys, he closed his eyes and turned around to face the children.

"You know," the spiky-haired brunette began. "You all look pretty stupid right now, you know that?"

A clamor arose from the latter.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I mean, _come on, _there's actually a kid here who's literally been beaten half-dead, shivering to death, and coughing his lungs out. Yet you just stand there like complete idiots. Hasn't it already occurred to you that he actually needs help?"

Another murmur.

The raven only stared blankly at the spiky-haired brunette.

Shikamaru glanced back to look at the broken blonde with a solemn countenance, then exhaled sharply.

"Look, I know this might be a little troublesome for some of you, but we need to help this kid…_now._"

The children looked at each other and whispered, trying to grasp what the spiky-haired brunette had just said.

Until finally, another had come forth from the crowd.

All went silent.

A fanged brunette with red marks on his cheeks stepped forward to face Shikamaru with a rigid expression on his face. He glanced down at the mangled boy cringing in the Uchiha's arms and winced.

Then, Kiba looked at Sasuke with a solemn countenance.

The raven blankly stared back.

It was like that for a few minutes, until Naruto hissed and cried out in pain.

Immediately, the Uchiha shifted his eyes towards the blonde, who was clutching his side, his teeth clenched.

And his eyes widened once he saw the blood stain had grown…

Suddenly, the fanged brunette closed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hyuga," he called.

There was another shuffle from the crowd, until the gray-eyed boy could be seen standing in the very front and wincing when he saw the poor blonde.

Kiba turned around to face Neji, and nodded once with an impassive expression on his face.

The Hyuga closed his eyes and nodded back. "I know." Then he shifted his eyes towards the raven.

"Follow me."

Sasuke stared back with a stoic countenance, then began to carefully stand up while carrying the broken blonde in his arms.

But while doing this, he felt a hand on his shoulder and stopped to look beside him.

It was Sai.

"Would you like some help?"

The Uchiha stared into the latter's coal-black eyes for a long time. Then he shifted his gaze towards Naruto and closed his eyes, calmly shaking the other raven's hand off.

"I got it," Sasuke replied unwaveringly, and walked away to follow Neji.

~o~

The Hyuga and Uchiha stopped at the corner of the shack, and Neji gestured to a nearby patch of hay.

"Lay him down over there," the long-haired brunette ordered.

The raven nodded slightly at the Hyuga, then gently placed the blonde on top of the hay.

Then Neji turned to walk away. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

When the brunette left, he turned back to face Naruto.

He was literally a mess. What was once his smooth, caramel-tan skin now had numerous cuts and bruises all over it.

And Sasuke almost shrank back when the latter trembled and clutched his bleeding side.

At that moment, the Uchiha's gaze softened. He slowly lifted his hand and gently placed it on top of the blonde's. He winced after looking at the giant, scarlet-red blot on the side of the latter's torn, white shirt.

Finally, he heard footsteps coming from behind.

The raven saw Neji, walking back with what looked like a bottle wrapped in cloth, and a bunch of torn rags.

Finally, the brunette stopped and looked at the broken blonde.

"Take his shirt off for me," the Hyuga ordered, handing the raven a damp rag. "And wipe off whatever blood you can from his wounds."

At first, the Uchiha opened his mouth to question Neji, but then closed it shut and carefully slipped off Naruto's torn, white shirt.

His eyes widened when he saw even more cuts and bruises that looked even worse than the ones he had seen in the beginning. But that wasn't what made Sasuke Uchiha gasp for the first time.

Where he had seen the huge blood stain on the blonde's shirt was now replaced with the biggest, deepest cut he'd ever seen, and it was what looked like a stab wound…

Immediately, he began to gently clean the latter's cuts, then softly pressed the rag against the stab wound to help stop the bleeding, which made Naruto stiffen a little and relax.

The raven glanced back when he heard the Hyuga uncover the bottle, and turned around.

"What…is that?" Sasuke asked with an indifferent expression on his face.

"It's a special ointment," Neji replied without looking up. "Unique to the Hyuga clan." He put the cap down and spread a blot of ointment on his hand. Then, he knelt down beside Naruto and paused. "Hinata did say it would be of _some _use in the future…" He sighed and painstakingly applied the substance over the blonde's wounds.

"Keep the rag over his side," the brunette spoke, slightly lifting his head and abruptly changing the subject.

"Hn," the Uchiha uttered and turned to place the rag over the stab wound, but stopped for a moment when he saw that it was now slightly smaller. That is, unless he was losing it.

Neji paused, then looked up at the raven. "He always heals quickly—that's always been another special thing about this boy." He put the bottle of ointment down and began to wrap Naruto's cleaned wounds with rags.

Sasuke stared at the blonde quietly, then put the rag to the side.

"There," the Hyuga spoke, wiping his forehead. "That should do it. He should wake up by tomorrow, from how things look right now."

"Hn," the Uchiha uttered.

FInally, after a few minutes, the brunette nodded once and left.

~o~

Later on that night, Sasuke had found himself on his usual makeshift bed again.

But he couldn't stop looking at the sleeping Naruto.

"_No!"_

The raven winced, then looked away from the latter.

_Why am I becoming so concerned for this kid? It's really not any of my business._

He closed his eyes. _Even if they say it is._

Suddenly, the Uchiha heard a shuffle and a small cry from behind.

He spun around to see that poor Naruto was shivering again.

At that moment, he thought he could feel himself shiver, too. After all, it _was _cold in this shack.

Sasuke got up and walked over to the latter on the other side of the shack.

The blonde was literally trembling, tossing, and turning in his sleep.

"Uh…ah…" he mumbled, his mouth open.

The raven's gaze softened, and he lay down next to the latter. Then, he slowly reached for the blonde's tan hand.

It was a bit warmer now, but still cold.

Suddenly, Naruto shivered again and instantly latched on to the Uchiha.

At first, the raven was caught off-guard by the action. But then he felt himself wrap his arms around the latter as well, as if it were...an impulse?

At that moment, the blonde seemed to relax a little.

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a tired expression on his face.

_Still don't know why I'm doing this._

After a few minutes, the raven finally fell asleep, his arms still wrapped around the blonde.

~o~

Whistle.

In an instant, the children opened their eyes and sat up, including the Uchiha.

_Shoot, _the raven thought, shifting his eyes towards Kiba and the others.

At that moment, they were alarmed as well, and had no idea how to hide Naruto from Kyuubi without him being suspicious.

But then they calmed down when Sai had announced that he was walking away and probably just came to wake them all up. Or he just might have had too much whiskey the other night.

"All right," Kiba whispered to the rest of the children. "The coast is clear…for now. In the meantime, act natural and get in your positions so he doesn't get any motive to come back."

"What about Uzumaki?" Gaara asked.

The fanged brunette glanced back to look at the blonde and then at the raven.

"He'll be fine where he is for the moment. It doesn't look like he'll be coming back any time soon. Just leave him there until he wakes up." And with that sentence, he shifted his eyes towards Sasuke and nodded.

The Uchiha blankly stared at Kiba, then nodded back, but with slight hesitation. He wasn't exactly _comfortable _with the idea of just "leaving Naruto there," but at the moment, it didn't look like he had a choice.

~o~

_(6:45 p.m.)_

Naruto whimpered and rolled over on his side.

"No…"

The raven froze and turned to look at the blonde.

The latter tossed and turned.

"_No…"_

Sasuke dropped the potato he was holding and rushed over to the blonde.

"Dobe…" the Uchiha spoke softly.

"Please…please stop…" the latter spoke in a terrified tone.

"What's going on?"

The raven looked up and saw Kiba Inuzuka, standing next to him with a rigid expression on his face.

"Stop…" Naruto muttered.

At that moment, Sasuke could only say one word. "Nightmare."

The fanged brunette stiffened and shifted his eyes back at the latter.

"_Stop it…_" the blonde groaned and whimpered.

"Naruto," Kiba muttered.

"_NO!_" the latter yelled. He gasped and immediately sat up, latching once more onto the Uchiha's shirt.

At that moment, Kiba's and Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise.

Naruto panted, sweat drops forming on the back of his neck. "No…"

The raven's gaze softened, and he lowered his head to face the blonde.

"Dobe," the Uchiha spoke calmly, but with a stoic expression on his face. "Dobe—it was only a dream. Look around you."

Upon hearing the comment, Naruto held his breath and slowly lifted his head up to look at Sasuke.

"Teme…" His eyes became wide and glittered for a moment like the ocean blue.

At that moment, the raven couldn't help but smile a little at the familiar gleam he'd finally got to see again.

But then, the blonde's cerulean eyes grew deep and dull once more with melancholia, and he shifted his eyes to look around the shack.

That's when he finally locked eyes with Kiba, who had the usual impassive expression on his face.

Naruto winced, then turned and looked down at his feet with a sullen countenance.

Suddenly, running footsteps could be heard nearby.

The raven looked up to see Neji, Gaara, and Shikamaru rushing towards the blonde until they were finally standing next to him with solemn expressions on their faces.

"Naruto," the gray-eyed brunette spoke softly. "Are you feeling any better?"

The blonde paused, then slightly raised his head. "Yeah."

"Naruto," the redhead spoke. "What happened? What did he do to you?"

At that moment, Sasuke thought he saw the latter cringe a little.

Then the blonde swallowed and spoke.

"Terrible, _terrible_ things," Naruto managed to reply in a shaky tone.

"We get the idea already," a stern voice cut in.

The other five paused, then looked up at Kiba.

"But what the heck did he actually _do_ to you two?"

The Uchiha stiffened after hearing the phrase, "you two," and instantly remembered that Kyuubi hadn't _just _taken Naruto.

"_Well?"_ the fanged brunette snapped.

Gaara raised his hand to cut Kiba off. "Enough. Let Uzumaki speak for himself."

The Inuzuka opened his mouth to retort, but ended up closing it shut.

The redhead slowly put his hand down. "Naruto?"

Sasuke glanced down at the blonde.

The latter paused and a moment of silence came.

Then he sighed and finally spoke in an unwavering tone. "He took us."

"Where—" Kiba began to shout back, when he was stopped once again by Gaara.

Naruto looked up to face the boys with a grim expression on his face. "To his _room,_" he finished.

At that moment, all held their breaths.

Shikamaru closed his eyes. At this point, all of them, even Sasuke, knew what that meant.

"And then what?" Neji asked, concern beginning to appear in his eyes.

The blonde's eyes tightened. "He hurt us—_a lot._"

Neji, Gaara, and Kiba looked at each other.

"But that's not all," Naruto added.

All five looked at the latter.

The blonde closed his eyes, then spoke. "This time, he used _a knife_. And then…he made us take off our _pants_…" He clenched his fists.

The other boys' eyes widened.

"Is that true?" the Hyuga asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," the latter replied quietly, rubbing his left arm covered in rags.

Suddenly, there was an awkward silence.

Until Shikamaru finally spoke up.

"What about Choji? What happened to him?"

Silence from the blonde.

A rigid expression appeared on Kiba's face. "Speaking of Choji, where is the hell is he?"

Still no response from Naruto, whose head was now drooping.

Neji pursed his lips, then spoke hesitantly. "Is he…all right?"

All eyes were on the blonde, his eyes even duller than before.

At that point, a stormy atmosphere arose among the group.

Until finally, Kiba couldn't take it anymore.

"Answer us already!" the fanged brunette growled.

"He's gone," Naruto spoke wearily.

Dead silence.

All five immediately stiffened at the comment.

The Inuzuka growled. "What do you mean, he's _gone—"_

The fanged brunette immediately broke off when the blonde suddenly raised his head and looked straight into his eyes.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw that the latter's eyes were now as rigid and icy as a glacier.

Immediately, it became dead silent.

After a few minutes, Naruto's gaze finally softened, and he hung his head.

"He's gone." At that moment, the Uchiha thought he saw the blonde cringe. "Choji's…"

The five waited anxiously.

"…_dead,_" he finished in a shaky tone.

All eyes widened, and more silence filled the shack. Shikamaru hung his head and turned away, his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Kiba rushed towards the blonde and held him up by what was left of his shirt collar.

"What do you mean, he's _dead_!" the fanged brunette roared. "What the hell happened!"

Naruto shuddered and hung his head. "The axe."

The Inuzuka intensified his glare.

The blonde pursed his lips, then whipped his head up to look at the latter straight in the face.

"His damn axe, Kiba!"

"What did he do?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

Naruto shifted his eyes towards the spiky-haired brunette.

From Sasuke Uchiha's point of view, it was as if the glacier in the latter's eyes had just…melted away.

The blonde winced, then spoke. "It was horrible, that night," he began. "He _hurt _us…so _much._" He cringed. "So much…that at some point, we even doubted we were still living in this world." The latter paused. "But then…he stopped for a minute."

Naruto shuddered. "He took my dagger…my _father's _dagger, damn it!" He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "…and he was going to kill me with it." He shifted his right hand to touch his side.

The raven's eyes widened.

"Another second, and I was thought I would be the one to die that night—for sure. Just one _damn _second." He clenched his fists.

"But then...Choji stepped in, and took part of the hit."

All eyes bulged, mouths gaping as well.

The blonde let out a sob. "He…he tried to stop him." He looked up at the boys with an intense countenance. "But he _wouldn't._" Tears began to stream down the latter's whiskered cheeks. "He _wouldn't _stop…"

His breath shook. "Until finally, he said he got sick of the knife and grabbed his axe. That same, bloody axe he used on Hinata…" Naruto's hands trembled. "And Choji—oh _God, _Choji…" More tears came down the latter's face. "Kyuubi was going to _kill _me. He was going to kill me, Kiba." He let out another sob.

The raven winced, and turned to look at the other boys.

Even _they _shed at least one tear, their teeth clenched and eyes closed.

"But Choji…Choji just wouldn't let him." The blonde began to weep. "He took all the hits that were meant for me. And if it wasn't for him…I wouldn't even have made it back here _alive._"

Suddenly, Kiba cried out.

All turned to see tears beginning to stream down the fanged brunette's face.

"_Shoot_…" He whipped his head up to glare at Naruto. "And what were _you _doing that whole time, huh! You just left him there to _die_!"

"I tried to _save _him, damn it!" the blonde yelled back.

Kiba clenched his teeth and hung his head. "The hell with you." He shoved the latter away.

Naruto fell back on the stack of hay.

The Inuzuka turned away from the blonde.

"This is all your fault. Look what you've done now," the fanged brunette spoke coldly. He clenched his fists and exhaled sharply.

Naruto stared back at the brunette, his eyes filled with pain.

"How can I ever forgive you…when you just keep screwing up?" Kiba finished, and silently walked away.

The blonde winced, his heart now filled with nothing but hurt. Then he looked at the ones that remained in front of him.

Neji shook his head, then left as well, while Gaara slowly closed his eyes and turned to follow the Hyuga.

At that moment, Naruto's breath shook, and he desperately shifted his gaze towards the spiky-haired brunette that now remained.

"Shikamaru…" the blonde spoke huskily.

But the latter only hung his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," the spiky-haired brunette spoke softly, and walked away.

The blonde winced in pain and hung his head.

Sasuke softened his gaze on the latter and silently watched as the rest of the children once again gave Naruto the cold shoulder.

"Dobe," the raven began, turning back to face the blonde and extending his hand.

But the latter only got up slowly and ran away.

The Uchiha stared after Naruto as he left, slowly pulling his hand back. At the same time, he actually couldn't help but feel a little hurt inside as well.

~o~

**Notes from the Kit-chan~**

Really feel bad for Naruto right now… T_T And damn it, Sasuke—go after the kid already. ^^"

And Choji... TT_TT Damn, even _I _want to frickin' cut off Kyuubi's head right about now. _"

What will happen next? O_O

Stay tuned for the next chapter! ^~^ And please, _please _REVIEW! ^^" Please? XD Need some feedback here, people! ^_^';

Also-just FYI. XD The first chapter of **Bet on It **(that DN fic I mentioned in my LJ...if you actually READ it. XD) is also up. So far, I've only got one person who actually gave me feedback on whether they liked it or not, but still...I don't know if anyone else is interested enough for Chapter 2, so I'm still unsure of whether I should finish writing it and post it up or not... ^^" Just an FYI. n.n" You don't HAVE to read it if you don't want to-I'm not God or anything. XD

Ah, well-I'm off to pack up for Delaware. ^w^ Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.


	10. Chapter 10: Hurt

_**Chapter 10: Hurt**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

So sorry this took so long—this one was a biggie. ^^" And this week was _really _hectic for me, as in literally _packed _with dumbass projects and tests… XP Some of you might be wondering why I still have school around this time. News flash—I still have school until June 22nd… _" So yeah, this week my teachers just decided to fry everyone's brains with research papers, group projects, tests, presentations…and _crap. _.

All I can say now is that I hope you like this chapter! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

~o~

"Naruto?" the raven called softly, peeking through the entrance to the usual spot.

At this point, Sasuke had known the blonde long enough and understood that if he needed to take some time to himself or just get away from the world for a while, there was only one place he'd ever turn to.

Suddenly, the Uchiha heard a hiss and a small cry from behind one of the barrels near the shack wall.

He froze and rushed over in that direction.

The raven shifted his eyes and looked around the area, until he finally found Naruto sitting in the corner, who appeared to be fumbling with a piece of rag.

"…Naruto?" the Uchiha called quietly again. He slowly approached the blonde and saw that his side was once again red with blood. "Shoot," he mumbled, and ran over next to the latter.

"Gah…" Naruto muttered under his breath and winced, still fumbling with the soaked rag.

Sasuke stood quietly at the blonde, looking at him with an impassive expression on his face. Then, he knelt down and calmly pushed the latter's hands away from the wound.

Naruto merely stared at the raven, caught off-guard by the action.

"Hn," the Uchiha uttered, looking at the blotch of scarlet. Then he slightly shifted his eyes to glance at the blonde. "You dobe, you're only making it worse like that." He began to unwrap the cloth. "Really smart of you to push yourself into actually _running _away when you're still in bad shape."

The latter only continued to stare at Sasuke with the same stunned countenance.

Finally, the raven could see the wound on the blonde's caramel-tan skin. Although it was a lot smaller than earlier, there was still a significant amount of blood trickling down. The Uchiha blankly stared at the cut, then looked around for another rag. But seeing there was no other, he glanced down at his shirt sleeve and ripped part of it off with ease.

"Sasuke—" the blonde began, still not believing his eyes.

But the Uchiha said nothing and continued to tend to Naruto's injury, rewrapping it with the fragment of shirt cloth.

The latter paused, then turned away silently.

"There," Sasuke muttered, slightly tightening the cloth around the blonde's waist. He sat up and sighed.

For a moment, there was silence between the two.

Until Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Why," he began softly. "Why do you even bother with some useless, lowlife idiot like me?"

The raven froze at the question and looked at the blonde, his eyes dull again.

At that moment, Naruto cringed. "I'm no one important, damn it!" he cried out, hurt in his tone.

The Uchiha's eyes widened at the sudden mood change.

The blonde clenched his teeth. "Why does everyone…always have to…" He bit his lip, trying to restrain himself. "Why does it…always have to be _me!_" The latter let out a sob.

Sasuke stared at the latter with a solemn expression on his face.

"I _always _try to help _everyone_…but I never _could _help _everyone_… Why the hell does this always have to happen to _me!_" He let out another sob. "Every time…_every _damn time I move out of my way to try to _help _someone…to _save _someone…" He clenched his fists. "Why do I _always _end up losing _someone?_" The latter banged his fists against the wall behind him and cried out in pain—_emotional _pain.

The raven softened his gaze.

Naruto sniffled. "Is it all…_my _fault?" the blonde wept. "Is it my fault, Sasuke? All I wanted to do…was _help_ them. All I wanted to do…was try to make everything _better _for them. So then why? Why do I always screw up in the end?" He let out another sob and buried his face into his hands. "Shoot—Choji. I…I tried to protect him. I…I tried to _save _him, damn it! And Hinata…oh, _God_—Hinata."

The latter abruptly reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a small, light blue dagger, stained and tainted with dried up streaks of maroon. "All that…" he muttered. "All that crap…for nothing!" He threw the object into the tall grass and sobbed.

The Uchiha looked after the dagger as it fell forward into the tall grass, then turned to face the hurt blonde. He stared at the latter with a pained expression on his face. Sasuke winced as he watched the latter in emotional pain and felt the need to do _something—_anything that would make the boy well again, but could do nothing. He could only sit there quietly, not knowing what to say at that moment to comfort Naruto.

The blonde exhaled sharply and shook his head slowly. "Damn it—sometimes I don't even think I _deserve _to live in this hell of a world. What world needs a stupid, dumbass idiot like me? …I should just go roll up in a corner and die." He sniffled again and buried his face in his arms.

Sasuke softened his gaze on the poor latter. At that moment, he closed his eyes, and the following sentence rang through his ears.

"_From how it all looks…you may as well be the only one who can help him."_

The raven opened his eyes and turned in the direction where Naruto had thrown the dagger. He calmly stood up and walked over to pick up the shiny blue object.

The Uchiha almost shrank back when he saw the two doves dancing gracefully on the hilt again, but stiffened at the brownish-red streaks all over it. He paused, then walked back to the blonde and sat down next to him, still looking at the dagger.

It was silent between the two for a while.

Suddenly, the raven took Naruto's hand and placed the object on top of his palm. Then he gently pushed the tan fingers over it, enclosing the shiny blue dagger.

The blonde flinched a little, then turned to look down at his hand. He winced as he stared at the dancing doves.

"Hn," Sasuke uttered. He slowly placed his hand on top of the latter's. "What makes you think…that any of this is _your _fault, dobe, when you never even did anything wrong?"

Naruto's eyes widened.

The Uchiha stiffened and scratched the back of his head. Of course-he was never good at any of this stuff, more or less make a baby stop crying. No Uchiha was—the males, at least. But hey—it never hurt to try—especially if your friend's having his own mental breakdown right in front of you.

The raven composed himself and tried to smile a little for the blonde. "Stop overreacting already. You're not the one to blame here." He turned, then looked towards the home of the tyrant.

The latter glanced up to see where Sasuke was gazing, then looked down.

"Last time I heard, it was _his _fault this all happened in the first place," his voice wavered a little, knowing that was a lie…for _him, _at least. But he tried—for his…friend? "The one who took us all away from our homes. The one who brought us to this dump. The one who comes in here to torture us every day. The one who…" The Uchiha paused and closed his eyes. "…went so far as to even kill your friends. If there's anyone to blame, it should be _him. _Am I right, _dobe_?"

Silence.

Sasuke slowly turned back to face the latter, who was still looking down at the grass.

Naruto thought for a moment, then finally raised his head to gaze softly into the raven's stoic, coal-black eyes.

The Uchiha stared back with an impassive countenance.

The blonde smiled warmly, his ocean blue eyes sparkling again. Then he chuckled and lightly punched the latter on the shoulder. "_Teme_," the boy drawled.

Sasuke smirked.

After that, Naruto's gaze softened, and he gently put his hand on top of the raven's. "…thanks. A lot. For trying to make me feel better."

The latter softened his gaze as well.

But then the blonde frowned, and his eyes went dull again. "But the thing is…" he began calmly.

The Uchiha waited patiently.

The blue-eyed boy turned away and closed his eyes. "It's not his fault, either."

At that moment, the raven froze. "What makes you say that?"

The latter hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Because…" He kept his eyes closed, then spoke in a low and soft voice. "I know for a fact that he's been through worse than we have."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow confusedly.

The blonde went on. "No one else knows this, but he's actually felt a lot more pain than the rest of us ever have. More than you…" he paused. "…and more than me."

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a perplexed countenance. "But how? Hasn't he been the one _hurting _people?"

The blonde slowly shook his head. "Yes, but…"

The Uchiha waited patiently.

"But he wasn't like that before." The blue-eyed boy fumbled around with a few blades of grass.

The raven's face became rigid. "What do you mean? How do you know all this?"

"Because," Naruto began in a low voice. "…he was my father's best friend."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

The blonde paused, then opened his eyes and looked up at the night sky. "Back then, when Konoha was still small, I used to live on the countryside with my mom and dad." He winced a little, then went on. "And it was the same with Shikamaru, Choji, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, Neji, Gaara—who'd just moved from Suna, and…" He paused to look at the raven. "…_teme."_

The raven froze, then smirked at the latter. "Hn. I didn't know you lived that close to my family back then, _dobe._"

Naruto chuckled. "But you didn't really know me before—and I wasn't as familiar with you, either." He smiled. "Except I do remember seeing you once by the lake this one morning when I had to help my mom carry all this stuff outside. You were watching a bunch of ducks in the water."

"Huh. Is that so?"

Naruto laughed, his ocean blue eyes sparkling. "Yeah. I mean at first, I thought you even had a black one on your head!"

The Uchiha frowned at the latter. Then he spoke as well. "Hn. Well, I can just vaguely remember seeing _you_ that same day, too."

The blonde stopped laughing and looked at the latter curiously.

Sasuke chuckled. "At first,_ I_ mistook you for a patch of hay out in the middle of the field, waiting to be picked up."

"Hey!" the blue-eyed boy pouted.

The raven snickered.

Naruto sighed. "Well, moving on…"

The Uchiha stared blankly at the latter.

"Anyway, as you might remember before, we all lived close together. At that time, Kyuubi was the one who lived the closest to my house." The blonde paused. "And back then, my parents used to work a lot out on the farm. My mom would always have to help pick corn and wheat on the field, and my dad, well…he was actually the leader. Heh. Your dad might even remember him the head farmer who always gave everyone instructions on where to farm. You know—the one who made sure everything went okay." He chuckled.

Sasuke grinned smugly, distantly recalling afternoons when his own father would walk through the door exhausted, complaining about being ordered around every day. But Fugaku always did exaggerate.

Suddenly, Naruto went silent. "But every time that happened…they'd always have to leave me behind—cooped up in my own house every day, and my parents would feel bad about it because they'd never come back from the fields until late in the afternoon." His face became serene. "that was when we first met Kyuubi—_and _his wife, Okami."

The raven froze. For some reason, that name sounded familiar to him.

The blonde went on, smiling a little. "They were the nicest people you'd ever meet on this poor excuse of a planet. Especially Okami, who actually went out of her way to take care of me every day when my parents were out working—for free. In fact, she took care of Kiba and the others, too, once in a while. You might even know or at least remember her."

And to the Uchiha's surprise, he actually did. He vaguely remembered a woman who had come to his home a few times on the rare occasions that his parents needed to leave town for the market, and he had actually been happy during those days. But for some reason, the only memories he had of her were soft laughter and dancing shades of blue—her skirt, perhaps. And there was also all those books she carried with her in a suitcase and…toys? He couldn't help but smile, even if it was the slightest, at the reminiscence. Then suddenly, the raven froze. Kyuubi's _wife?_

Sasuke nodded curtly. "Yeah. I remember her now. The woman who taught me how to read."

Naruto chuckled. "Same here. Okami taught just about everyone how to read back then. Gosh, she even made school look bad."

The raven chuckled softly, but then stopped after remembering the very reason he chose to run away from his own home. His face became expressionless again.

"But wait—she was married to _Kyuubi? _I don't remember seeing that man around Konoha even once."

The latter nodded. "Yeah. But of course you didn't see him. Back then, you would rarely see the man out in public or on the fields working the rest of the farmers. He was one of those guys who kind of liked spending the day all by himself, where there's usually not a lot of people."

Sasuke stared at Naruto emotionlessly. "Hn."

The blue-eyed boy paused, then spoke. "So…you knew Okami, too?"

"Yeah," the raven replied, turning again towards the night sky. "She used to take care of my brother and me whenever my parents had to leave Konoha to sell cash crops at the market." He crossed his arms. "But that only happened once a month, so I didn't see her as much as you did before. That's why I just barely remember her." He paused, then looked back at the latter. "What about you?"

The blonde thought for a long time, then sighed. "Okami was…I guess, almost like a second mom to me." He smiled a little. "You can say she was the one who was always there for me—_and_ for the others, too," he glanced back at the shack. "And Kyuubi…"

The Uchiha waited patiently.

"…he would always come over to visit every once in a while to help Okami babysit me. Heh. He'd even spend some of his time to actually play with me and teach me how to plant _potatoes._" The latter smirked grimly, his eyes becoming dull again and distant laughter ringing through his ears. "And because they became close friends with my parents, they'd even come over for dinner sometimes—compliments of my mom. Then we'd just talk and actually _laugh_—a lot." Naruto chuckled. "Almost like a fairytale, right?"

Sasuke stared blankly at the blonde.

Then Naruto's eyes grew dull. "Just like Okami's magic tricks…" He paused.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, instantly curious about that last comment. But he knew. He'd memorized every single one she'd shown to him before, from making handkerchiefs disappear to having a bouquet of roses instantly appear in your hand…right out of the book.

Suddenly, the raven heard a low cry come from deep within the latter's throat.

Naruto's face tightened, and he clenched his teeth. "And _Kit_, too…"

Sasuke stiffened, as another faded memory went through his mind. A baby fox that she always pulled out of her hat… At that moment, his face became solemn.

When the Uchiha still a toddler, he remembered constantly begging for the woman to bring that fox out every time she came over, even when he had actually preferred black cats. But Kit had been a very special fox that had made the little raven forget all that. Not to mention her soft, snow-white fur…

_Why was he only remembering all this now? _Sasuke thought to himself, wincing. He turned to look at the blonde, but saw that he had once again buried his face in his arms.

The raven's countenance became stoic, and he slowly shifted closer to the latter. "Dobe…continue."

Silence.

Finally, Naruto spoke softly. "Remember that day when we all had to stay inside our houses?"

The raven thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

The blonde paused, then continued. "Did you ever wonder…_why?_"

The Uchiha thought again, trying to recall the memory. "Hn," he uttered, looking up at the sky. "Not really. All I could remember was how my father and mother kept telling me to stay indoors, no matter what. Never took the time to actually think about it."

Another moment of silence.

Sasuke shifted his eyes to look at the blonde. "Why? Dobe, you don't…" he stopped.

Naruto cringed, then looked up at the latter, pain filling his eyes.

The raven almost shrank back after seeing how rigid the blonde's face had become.

~o~

Naruto exhaled sharply, then looked down at the grass, searching for the right words. Finally, he spoke, in a low voice. "Okami was always good at doing magic tricks."

"What happened?"

The blonde cringed, then spoke again. "A few nights before that day, when everyone was asleep…these tall men in wearing black clothes and weird masks came to Konoha. And they were on horses, too."

The Uchiha listened patiently.

The blue-eyed boy went on. "And then I woke up, when I heard loud noises coming from outside. I went downstairs and saw my mom looking out the window. She told me that they didn't know who those men were and that my dad had gone outside to find out what they wanted. She told me to go back to my room and sleep. But I couldn't sleep that night…"

Sasuke blankly stared at the latter.

Naruto paused, then looked up at the sky aimlessly. "And then I heard a crash and people yelling outside. I couldn't help but look out the window…" He winced. "That's when I saw them taking Okami away. Her hands were tied behind her back and they put her on one of their horses. Then I saw Kyuubi, yelling at the men, and my dad trying to talk things out with them."

The raven's eyes widened.

"I didn't see what happened after that because my mom came into my room and pulled me away from the window. She told me to go to sleep for the night and that everything would be okay in the morning." The latter hung his head, his face solemn. "But I still couldn't sleep, because I was scared that they were going to take me away, too." He winced. "But then the next morning…I heard my dad talking to these other people. I found out that Okami had been arrested for witchcraft by the ANBU Black Ops, the official police of the Land of Fire, and was going to die for it. …they were gonna _hang _her, Sasuke—for her harmless little magic tricks! How could that be witchcraft?"

The Uchiha stiffened, his face becoming rigid.

The blonde paused. "…but there was a way to stop it."

The raven relaxed slightly.

"My dad…he could have been able to stop it because he was the leader of Konoha. The ANBU had asked him to come to court—to tell them if he'd seen Okami do those magic tricks, and said that his decision counted for the rest of Konoha, too. If he said yes, that means the village said yes, and they'd hang her—but if he said no, they'd let her go." His face became rigid. "But there was a catch."

The Uchiha waited quietly.

Naruto's gaze became intent. "My dad…couldn't lie. They'd told him that he couldn't lie when he talked to them because they were able to sense his heartbeat. They threatened him that if he was lying…"

Sasuke stared at the latter stolidly.

"…not only would they just kill Okami, but they'd punish us, too, and burn down Konoha."

The Uchiha shrank back.

Naruto closed his eyes. "Back then, this was a big problem for my dad, and he really didn't know what to do. He'd already consulted the rest of the farmers at that time, yet they still couldn't decide between saving Okami or protecting Konoha. They cared for both of them just the same. And Kyuubi…he was literally on his knees, _begging _my dad to help Okami. You should have seen the look on his face…"

The raven's face became rigid. "What did he do in the end?"

Silence.

"…dobe."

The blonde stiffened, then looked at Sasuke with sad eyes. "When we had to stay inside that day…" he spoke softly, then stopped. He turned away and slowly shook his head.

Sasuke's eyes bulged. "No way."

Naruto looked into the raven's eyes with a pained expression on his face.

~o~

The blonde slowly turned away, his blue eyes filled with melancholia. "They hanged her," he spoke in a shaky tone. "They hanged her out in the middle of everyone's houses. That's why we all had to stay inside…"

Sasuke shrank back appalled, his eyes bulging.

Naruto clenched his fists. "Kyuubi got so mad…and then disappeared from Konoha the next day. No one knew where he went or heard anything from him again. But _Okami…_" He shuddered.

The raven softened his gaze.

But then the blonde paused. "And here I thought that Kyuubi would never come back, but then…" At that moment, his face became grim. "…he did. That's when everything changed."

The Uchiha frowned.

"He came…in the middle of the night, when I was asleep. You were already gone and moved away by then. Everyone did…because they were afraid that something like that would happen again. So my family and I were the only ones left in that area." Naruto paused. "I was asleep in my room…when I heard a scream from downstairs."

Sasuke stiffened.

The blonde cringed. "I woke up...and ran out to see what was going on. But before I could even get to the door…" He gulped. "There was fire everywhere."

The raven's eyes widened.

"But I still ran," the latter continued, his voice shaking. "I ran downstairs, looking for my mom and dad, shouting their names through the smoke." Suddenly, Naruto stopped. "And then, that's when I finally found them on the floor." He gasped, then exhaled sharply. "There was blood…all over the floor. And those eyes…belonged to the same man. But Kyuubi just wasn't Kyuubi anymore. His eyes…they were bloodshot. Blood…like the color bandanna he was wearing that night…"

The Uchiha shrank back.

The blonde trembled and hugged himself. "It…it was terrible—that night. He…was so cruel. I even thought he was gonna kill me, too. But he didn't…" He immediately looked at Sasuke, fear filling his eyes. "He said he was going to something worse to me…and then everything went black." Naruto closed his eyes. "When I woke up, I found myself in this shack." The latter pointed behind him. "It was so dark…and _cold._"

Sasuke stared at the blonde with a blank expression on his face.

"You wouldn't believe what he did to me in there." The blonde shuddered. "Day after day. It _hurt _so much. So much…_blood._"

The raven stiffened.

"And after that, I wanted to get out…so _badly. _But I couldn't." Naruto closed his eyes. "Then at some point…he finally got sick of torturing me half to death. I wanted to hurt him back, too…_so much. _I started yelling at him, begging him to let me go." At that moment, the memory ran clearly through his mind, and he could almost hear himself when he had been shouting. "But I stopped, when he grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me close." The blonde shivered. "I tried to pull back, but then he punched me in the stomach and whispered something in my ear."

The Uchiha's face became rigid. "What did he tell you?"

Naruto paused. "He told me…that I wasn't going anywhere."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

The blonde lowered his head. "He told me that I was going to stay here for the rest of my life, whether I liked it or not. Then he just left me there, broken and half-dead."

The raven frowned.

Suddenly, there was an ominous silence. Then Naruto spoke in a low voice. "Pretty soon…I finally understood what he was talking about." He paused, his eyes growing dull. "Turned out my dad had made his once best friend… into my frickin' _godfather." _

The Uchiha's eyes widened.

The blonde's face tightened. "So from that point on…I didn't have a choice but to stay with him, since the ANBU considered me legally his under my dad's will. And I still am." He clenched his fists. "The stupid _ANBU Black Ops—_who didn't even know what really happened to my parents. The _stupid _ANBU who wouldn't even believe me when I told them what Kyuubi did…"

The raven stiffened.

"Life was _hell _for me after that. But the monster didn't even stop there. He told me that it wasn't enough to hurt just me and wanted to get revenge on everyone else, too—everyone else who had lived in Konoha. That was when he took Kiba next and burned down his home, too, after killing his parents. Then he began taking the others from their homes, too—Shikamaru…Sai…" Naruto paused. "But this time, he stopped burning down everyone's houses, preferring that their parents would already suffer enough from losing their own kids…" He looked up at the Uchiha. "The same with you."

Sasuke looked at the blonde with a sad expression on his face, still feeling half-guilty about the stupid decision he had made…when he actually had a choice not to come with the tyrant. But it didn't matter now.

Suddenly, the latter spoke again, lifting his head to look up at the night sky and shifting his gaze to look at the two unique stars. His blue eyes glittered as the moonlight shone down on him. "But even though he's put us all through all this pain…no matter how much it hurts, I still can't help but feel sorry for the guy."

The Uchiha stared blankly at Naruto.

The blonde went on, his face becoming melancholy. "He _loved _Okami—just like how Kiba loved Hinata." He winced. "Even though he's not the same anymore…" Naruto glanced down at the dagger in his hand and held it to his face, the ivory doves shining under the moonlight. "…I still believe I can bring the old Kyuubi back—even if it means getting hurt every day." He paused. "He's only like this now because of how much pain he feels losing Okami…like Kiba was after Hinata died."

The raven's gaze softened.

Naruto's face grew solemn, his eyes becoming more intent. "I want to change his heart, too—like everyone else's," he spoke unwaveringly. Then the latter shifted his eyes towards the damaged fence section in the distance, pain in his eyes.

Sasuke stared at the blonde with a solemn countenance.

The blue-eyed boy paused. "But this time…I'm not going to make the same mistake. Not again." He hung his head.

The raven gently placed his hand on top of the latter's.

Naruto cringed a little. "I won't…let anyone else get hurt because of me."

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Can't say much right now…have to study for a chem test. . But I hope you liked this chapter. ^_^ And all I can say now is that the next chapter is in progress as we speak and I'm trying really hard to get the next one in a little earlier. ^^" Despite next Friday being finals for meh… .

(FYI—I didn't purposely name the baby fox _Kit_. It was either that or _Zorro. _^^" But that name didn't sound as cute… ^^" Ah, well—just know that _Kit_ has nothing to do with _KIT-chan_. XD)

Stay tuned for the next chapter and PLEASE REVIEW! ^_^"; *bows*

Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

_*Note—no post on LJ this time. Sorry, guys—my hands are literally full right now. ^^" Not to mention all the plot bunnies I have to handle later, too… XD_


	11. Chapter 11: Discovery

_**Chapter 11: Discovery**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Sorry it's been a while…but you can thank finals for that. ^^" Still studying… XP

Enjoy~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

~o~

The shack was silent again, except for the light snoring coming from the sleeping blonde next to the raven, who was lying on the pile of hay with his eyes slightly ajar. For Sasuke, it usually took a while until he fell asleep, but tonight, it took him more than half an hour before he could finally close his eyes, for he still couldn't stop thinking about what the blonde had told him. So at that moment, he was half-awake.

Until he heard a slight rustling sound coming from afar.

At first, the Uchiha didn't even bother, thinking that he was only hearing things from a dream. After all, he _was _half-awake…or half-asleep?

But then, he heard the sound again and sat up, his eyes groggy. From a distance, he thought he could make out a silhouette quietly walking through the entrance to the usual spot.

The raven yawned and rubbed his eyes, making sure that he wasn't just sleepwalking or anything, then looked again. This time, he saw that the figure had bushy hair.

At first, Sasuke thought that Naruto was walking out again, but stopped mid-thought when he noticed the blonde still sleeping soundly—for once. When he realized this, the raven became very conscious and stood up to follow the unknown silhouette.

As he slowly peeked through the usual aperture, he could see a bushy-haired brunette wearing a gray jacket, standing out in the tall grass, staring aimlessly at the night sky. At that moment, the Uchiha relaxed a little, seeing that it was only Kiba. But then he wondered why the brunette was out here in the usual spot at 2:00 in the morning.

Suddenly, the latter chuckled.

The raven waited for a moment, then walked over until he was standing next to the Inuzuka.

Then the fanged boy stopped and paused for a long time. He closed his eyes and hung his head, his face becoming solemn. "Heh."

Sasuke stared at the brunette expressionlessly.

He paused again. "…I was a real asshole to him, now wasn't I?" he asked in a low voice.

The raven didn't answer.

Then Kiba spoke again. "I thought so." He chuckled weakly and sighed. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. "Damn, I hate when that happens."

The Uchiha waited patiently.

"I _hate_ it when I end up hurting him like that. He might be an idiot sometimes, but I still consider him my friend. And I usually don't act like that, especially not to my friends."

The latter frowned.

The brunette went on, his eyes softening. "I mean, to tell you the truth…I actually wanted to tell him how I forgave him already for what happened. But…" He exhaled sharply and kicked a pebble across the field. Then he glanced at the damaged piece of fencing in the distance. "Every time I see that kid…Hinata always pops into my mind, and after that, I don't even know what I'm saying. I…I could never actually _talk _to Naruto—my _best _friend—face-to-face since that day, and now when he's all down like that…"

Sasuke waited quietly.

Kiba sighed. "I can't say or do anything to make him feel better anymore. I only end up hurting him more." He chuckled weakly. "Some friend I am, right? Yeah…the best you'll ever see…" The brunette frowned. Then he looked at the raven. "But you…"

The Uchiha blankly stared at the Inuzuka.

A small smile appeared on the fanged boy's face. "You _always _seem to make him feel better. I mean, come on—you actually got him to _laugh _for once."

The raven stiffened, remembering their first "tickle fight." He couldn't help but grin a little from the memory.

The brunette chuckled. "The first time anyone's laughed in this shack for months." He stopped chuckling. "And you know…sometimes, I even get a little jealous of you for cheering him up like that when I can't." He smirked. "So what's the secret, Uchiha? You get him hooked on some sort of drug or something?" The fanged boy chuckled again.

But the raven's smile faded, and his face became expressionless again. He paused for a moment and turned to look up at the stars in the sky. Then he spoke, with an impassive tone. "Hn," Sasuke uttered. "...I don't even know myself." His eyes became solemn. "All I know right now…is that I'm apparently supposed to be the one helping him." He looked back at Kiba.

At that moment, Kiba sank deep into thought, then after a few minutes, opened his mouth to speak. "You don't know why, do you?"

After a few minutes, the Uchiha slowly shook his head.

Then the brunette chuckled and looked aimlessly up at the sky. "I thought so." He smiled a little. "You know, the minute Kyuubi dumped you into this shack…this gleam actually appeared in Naruto's eyes that everyone noticed. None of us knew what it was for—not even Naruto himself could tell us. All he could say was…that it was some sort of feeling—a _strange _sort of feeling…but good, according to him. But it wasn't anything big…or so we thought."

The raven stared at Kiba with a stoic countenance.

The brunette continued. "From that day forth, the idiot started acting differently here—how he talked, how he walked—_everything._ Since the day he met you, he's been a little more…" He thought for a moment. "…fickle, let's say?" The Inuzuka chuckled. "And then when you'd actually come around to talk to the kid, it's like he's a whole other person."

At that moment, Sasuke raised an eyebrow in amusement.

Kiba stopped for a moment. "That's when everyone started seeing you two as…hm. How should I put this?" He scratched the back of his head nervously as the Uchiha stared at him with a flat expression on his face. "Hm…like _yin _and _yang. _I dunno, it's something that Okami taught us once. It's like you're _yin—_the dark one, and Naruto's _yang—_the light one. I mean, you're always together so often that it looks like as if you need each other to survive, like something's gonna go terribly wrong if you lose each other—like how the world supposedly becomes unbalanced if you take out _yang._ Just putting it in that example." He chuckled nervously, Sasuke's face still a bit uneasy. "But you get the idea," the brunette finished and sighed, looking down at the grass.

The Uchiha's gaze softened.

Then, Kiba closed his eyes. "Something like how…how I wanted to be with Hinata. Heh-_God, _I cared for her…so much. So much that I…I wanted to tell her how I felt and find out if she cared for me, too. But when she died…" He slowly shook his head. "_Everything _went wrong. And I never did get the chance."

At that moment, the raven's eyes became sad. "Kiba…"

Suddenly, they heard a cry coming from the shack.

Both stiffened and turned back. Then, the brunette looked at Sasuke with a cautious expression on his face. "Come on."

"Hn," the raven uttered and nodded once.

Then they sprinted back to the shack.

~o~

"Get it!" a boy cried.

Kiba and Sasuke stood frozen inside the shack as they saw the children scrambling in all directions with either fearful or determined expressions on their faces.

Suddenly, a white blur flew past the two boys and disappeared in an instant from their sight.

Soon, they saw a few boys running on the other side of the shack, one holding a potato sack in his hand.

The brunette raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking around the shack. Then, he stiffened when he saw that the floor was literally covered in mashed-up fragments of potato. The same ones from before…

He growled. "What's going on here!"

At that moment, another boy ran past him with another potato sack in his hand. "There's a monster in here that ate half of our potatoes!"

In an instant, they saw Shikamaru jump and fall to the ground. He groaned and quickly got up. "Don't let it get away!" Then he continued to run.

Sasuke paused, then turned to face Kiba. "Who are they running after?"

Suddenly, another white blur flew past them, but this time making the brunette fall over.

"Gah!" the fanged boy cried out. But at the same time, he was able to get a glimpse of the "monster's" face. He paused, then spoke in a low voice.

"Oka-_mutt._"

At that moment, the raven froze and sank deep into thought, remembering that dog—that _monster _guarding their only escape from this dump.

"It's over there! Wait—no! You idiot, it's over there!"

The raven looked up and saw that Kiba had joined in the chase around the room. The children were dashing this way and that, some of them even swinging potato sacks around. But all attempts were fruitless.

Suddenly, he felt a whoosh nearby and looked straight ahead, only to be met by a white shadow, glaring at him with a pair of piercing red eyes.

"Uchiha! Don't let it get through!" the brunette yelled.

But it wasn't like Sasuke had a choice. He was already frozen because for the first time, he was actually scared out of his mind. The raven couldn't even look away from the monster's scarlet glare. He gulped. Those eyes…like the one from his dream…

At that moment, he heard a snarl come from the beast's mouth, but he still held his ground. Although he was still afraid of the stupid thing…

"Uchiha!" another boy yelled.

At that moment, the Uchiha stood still and held his hands up, preparing himself for the impact even though he was still scared of the monster going for his limbs.

That was when he was suddenly blocked, and saw a flash of bright yellow.

"Naruto!"

The raven's eyes widened in surprise.

The blonde sighed, then glanced back at Sasuke.

The Uchiha stared back with an astonished expression on his face.

Naruto chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I can handle this."

But then the raven's face became serious. "You dobe—you're going to hurt yourself like that—" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw the latter showing off that stupid, happy-go-lucky grin of his.

"Trust me," the blue-eyed boy said calmly, then faced the beast with an intent expression on his face.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde, then looked straight ahead.

The monster was coming in at full force, as if it were intending to knock them both down. Only a few more inches, and they'd be…

Suddenly, the beast let out a big growl and went in for the attack.

The raven's eyes widened as he saw the big dog make a vigorous jump towards the blonde…

And then, before he knew it, he found the two on the ground, as if they were struggling with each other.

At first, the Uchiha thought the mutt was trying to hurt Naruto and was about to run over to help him, when…the blonde suddenly burst out in laughter.

After that, all stopped in their tracks, surprised at the sight in front of them.

"…dobe?" Sasuke stiffened.. He took a few steps closer to get a better look and saw that the monster wasn't _attacking _Naruto. The monster was being attacked by Naruto himself, who, at that moment, was running his fingers down the dog's belly.

The blonde chuckled as the animal was laughing its heart out as it was being mercilessly tickled by the latter.

At that moment, the raven couldn't believe his very eyes, and neither could the rest of the children.

Naruto Uzumaki. The biggest knucklehead around. Taking down the ferocious Oka-_mutt. _With a mere tickle fight. What. The. Hell?

And they could still hear the two literally laughing their heads off.

After a few minutes, Kiba finally decided to step in. "All right! All right already!" he yelled, waving his arms. "Naruto! I hate to frickin' say this, but stop torturing the mutt already!"

But the blonde only continued to laugh, as did the poor creature he was tickling...brushing his fingers against its soft fur...its soft, _snow-white _fur...which reminded him of...

Immediately, Naruto froze, and his hands stopped right where they were. He gazed upon the beast again, his eyes widening and his mouth gaping. At that moment, he felt the latter's fur under his hands that he now noticed were _as soft as feathers…_

Soon, the blonde gasped and looked straight into the animal's piercing red eyes.

Sasuke stiffened and immediately focused his gaze on the animal, trying to find out the cause of the sudden mood change. But as he looked closely at the creature, he now saw that it looked a lot less than a dog—than the ferocious monster guarding the fence.

The raven could see that it had a more elongated snout, triangular-shaped ears...and not to mention its bushy tail—a tail one could almost mistake for one of the clouds in the sky. His heart stopped for a second. This animal was no dog. The Uchiha's eyes widened. A _fox... _But that wasn't the main point here.

The idea here was that it had potato debris all over its paws and mouth…

At that moment, the children stiffened, anxious and worried for the blue-eyed boy. The raven watched the latter with cautious eyes, still keeping an eye on the animal.

Even Kiba stood still as well, his face now becoming serious. Then he spoke in a quiet, calm voice.

"Naruto...what's wrong?"

At first, there was no response from the blonde, whose hands were now trembling.

The raven closed his eyes, knowing exactly what was wrong here. Then, he spoke as well, in a low voice. "Dobe..."

Naruto gulped, then paused for a moment. Finally, he spoke in an unwavering but weary voice.

"_Kit._"

~o~

At that moment, there was dead silence in the shack. All stood frozen in their tracks, eyes bulging and mouths gaping—the very moment they heard that particular name come out of the blonde's mouth.

Even Kiba was astonished by what he'd just heard. After a few minutes, he finally brought himself to approach the beast with a rigid countenance.

"Move over," he spoke in a low voice, lightly shoving Naruto aside. Then he examined the animal's features very carefully, scrutinizing every detail, from its pointy ears all the way down to its soft, bushy tail.

This animal was definitely a fox—no doubt about it. And Kiba still couldn't believe it. He just…couldn't. Especially the mashed potato all over its paws.

The brunette closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "No…it can't be…"

All looked at the Inuzuka with cautious expressions on their faces.

Then he clenched his teeth. "This…this can't be her…not after all these years…" Kiba swallowed. "This monster's…been eating Kyuubi's potatoes all this time. Not Choji." Suddenly, the brunette began to tremble. "She's the one…who got us all into trouble. The reason why Choji died…" He whipped his head up to look at Naruto. "The reason why you even got hurt!" At that moment, he closed his eyes and shook his head again. "_Kit…_"

The rest of the children now had solemn countenances.

Sasuke softened his gaze, then finally approached the furry creature.

He paused to briefly look at the blonde and the Inuzuka, then knelt down beside the fox and stared into its scarlet-red eyes.

Kit.

The raven swallowed, then turned to look at Kiba, who was still trembling and shaking his head in disbelief.

Naruto's eyes softened, and he calmly put his hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Kiba."

The latter paused, then looked up at the blonde with a solemn expression on his face.

The blue-eyed boy winced. "It's not her fault." Then he pointed towards the fox. "Look."

The brunette and raven hesitated for a moment, then shifted their eyes in the direction of the blonde's gesture.

At first, they could see nothing out of the ordinary, but soon they noticed some visible rib bones near the albino fox's stomach.

Naruto spoke again. "It's not her fault that Kyuubi's obviously not feeding her—that he's torturing her almost like he's torturing us. And it's not her fault that the fool didn't know Okami had a pet and the fact that she's been like this because of how she's being treated…acting all vicious and paranoid every time she gets bothered by us…" He turned to face the fanged boy. "What do you think, Kiba?"

But the latter didn't answer.

Suddenly, he sprinted away from the blonde and slipped through the usual aperture.

Almost immediately, Naruto began to chase after him, but felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see an expressionless Sasuke who merely nodded once and stood up with the blonde. Then they both ran to the usual spot together, Kit tagging along behind them.

Finally, when they got outside, they could see the Inuzuka standing in front of the damaged part of the fence, staring aimlessly through the tape.

The blonde and raven ran towards the brunette, then stopped immediately when they saw an empty collar hanging between the wires…

Then Kiba raised his hand to point at the collar. "That's how she's been getting into the shack and back here." He grabbed one end of the collar and looked at it closely. "Because it's so loose, she can easily slip in and out of this collar anytime she wants to go for a snack."

"If that's how it is, why didn't she just run away from here in the first place?" Sasuke asked.

But the other two shrugged.

"Maybe she still recognized us…when we didn't recognize her," Naruto managed to reply in a soft tone. "Maybe she…didn't want to leave us behind."

The raven and brunette turned to look at the blonde, who had a solemn expression on his face. Their gazes softened.

Then the Inuzuka chuckled weakly. "And now that you mention it, potatoes _were_ her favorite snack…"

All were silent.

"Poor Kit…" the blue-eyed boy spoke softly, stroking the fox's fur.

Another moment of silence.

The suddenly, they heard a shrill whistle coming from the shack.

At that moment, all three froze, and their eyes widened.

"Damn it," Kiba spoke under his breath. Then he shifted his eyes towards Kit. He lowered his head. "I'm really sorry to do this right now, but we've got to get her back in this collar before Kyuubi sees us here. We can think of something later."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded once without hesitation.

"Hn," the raven uttered in agreement.

Then the blonde turned to face the albino fox with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, Kit."

Kiba nodded once and quickly but painstakingly put the collar around the animal's neck, then guided it back on the other side of the wired fence.

At that moment, they heard another whistle.

Immediately, the Inuzuka grabbed the other two's hands and all three sprinted back to the shack.

~o~

For some odd reason, it was quiet inside the shack. No sounds of shuffling around. None of Kyuubi's badmouth language or his yelling.

As scary as it seemed, it was _dead _silent.

Kiba gulped and cautiously looked around the shack.

But then, Sasuke noticed something…off. For some other odd reason…everyone was lined up against the shack walls. The raven froze. Just like the night when he was first dragged here…

Suddenly, Naruto let out a low cry.

The other two froze and looked at the blonde.

And for some other, _other _odd reason…he stood there frozen with a rigid expression on his face, his eyes filled with nothing but fear.

The Inuzuka and Uchiha had confused expressions on their faces, wondering what the matter was, until they finally looked in the same direction as the blue-eyed boy and stiffened.

There was a sinister chuckle. "Well, well, well…who do we have here?"

~o~

"_Shoot,_" Kiba muttered under his breath, staring at the masked tyrant in front of him.

The other two only stood there, their faces as rigid as glaciers.

Sasuke gulped.

Kyuubi smiled devilishly at the three boys, then spoke. "Naruto."

The blonde cringed.

The tyrant took a step forward. "I've been looking for you this whole time."

The raven stiffened and shifted his eyes towards the petrified blonde.

Then Kyuubi took another step forward. "So this is where you went, you sneaky little boy. Hiding behind your ever so faithful buddies here…" He glanced back at the other children leaning against the walls with terrified countenances. Then he looked back at the three boys. "Or _are _they?"

The masked man chuckled darkly. "We're not finished yet, little Naruto."

But suddenly, Kiba stepped in front of the young blonde. "Buzz off," he spoke unwaveringly, glaring at the tyrant. "You've already done enough."

But Kyuubi only laughed scornfully. "Is that so, you little shit? Or do you want me to teach you something, too?"

"The hell with you," the Inuzuka spoke sternly. "The _hell_."

At that moment, the tyrant stopped laughing, his eyes gleaming dangerously behind his bandanna. "You're asking for it, kid."

The brunette glanced back at Naruto, then glared at Kyuubi, not even bothering to reply.

But then the masked man went on, chuckling evilly. "I'd take you with me, too, but…" His face became intent and he took yet another step forward.

The blonde backed away.

Kyuubi smiled villainously. "I'm afraid I only came here for _him,_" he finished, focusing his gaze on the blue-eyed boy.

Immediately, Sasuke stepped in front of him protectively.

The tyrant chuckled darkly again. "Heh. You fools. Nothing you say…" He took a step forward. "…or _do…_" Another step. He laughed maniacally. "…can ever stop _me!_" At that moment, he sprinted towards the blonde.

But to Naruto's surprise, all of the children began to push Kyuubi away, trying to protect the blue-eyed boy.

"Leave him alone!" a few voices yelled, trying with all their heart to keep the masked man away.

But to Kyuubi, this was nothing but a farce, and he merely pushed them all out of his way, quickly advancing towards the blonde.

Even Kiba could not stop him and only ended up getting pushed into a pile of potatoes.

But Sasuke still held his ground, intensifying his gaze on the masked tyrant. He wouldn't let this fool get his hands on Naruto. Not this time…

And the latter only watched helplessly as the villain approached the two of them with a dangerous expression on his face.

The raven didn't take his eyes off the man. Not even once.

But somehow, he ended up getting behind the Uchiha and shoving him away.

_What? _Sasuke thought to himself.

"No!" he heard the blonde yell, trying to break free of Kyuubi's grasp.

But the tyrant only smirked and leaned down against the latter's neck. Naruto cried and shook the man off his shoulder.

The raven's eyes widened, and he immediately got up to his feet.

"Let me go!" Naruto yelled, as Kyuubi began to tug him away again.

But Sasuke wouldn't go down without a fight. Not this time.

At that moment, he sprinted towards the blonde and grabbed his other hand, trying to pull the latter away from the tyrant's grasp.

The blue-eyed boy froze and looked at Sasuke with fearful eyes.

Kyuubi growled and looked back at the raven. Almost at once, he began to tug harder on Naruto's arm, which made the latter cry out in pain.

The Uchiha winced as Naruto's hand began to slip out of his, but he tightened his grip.

It was a tug-of-war between the two—almost like a remake of David and Goliath.

Only this time…Goliath ended up winning this battle.

"Let go, Uchiha!" Kyuubi snarled and punched Sasuke across the face, sending him flying to the ground.

At the same time, the poor raven hit his head against the shack wall, and he could feel himself losing consciousness, seeing nothing but shadows and blurs moving in the distance.

"_Sasuke!_"

Then everything went black.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Possible delay on the next chapter—finals are still not over for me. But I will try as much as I can to get the next one up in a timely fashion (did I just say that here? XD). So until then…you may have to wait. The same with the next chapter of **I'm Sorry **and **Bet on It—**for those of you who are also waiting for these. n.n" (Sorry! ^^")

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (tried very hard not to rush through it—had to get all the major points in… ^^") and I would appreciate it very muchly if you REVIEWED! ^_^";

Well, I'm off to study bio… XP

Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.


	12. Chapter 12: Saving a Friend

_**Chapter 12: Saving a Friend**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Where it gets…interesting? No—suspenseful? ~_O

Chapter 12. Done. *slams hands on table* OBJECT—jeez, I gotta break that habit… XD Well, finals are long done and all that sh*t. XD But this summer, I'm gonna be away most of the time, so less Internet access for meh and more delay for each chapter… ^_^"; Sorry! Right now I just got back from Washington, D.C… XD

Enjoy~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

**Warnings: **Just wanted to say that there's a lot of OOC in here… ^^" Sorry.

~o~

"Uhh…" the raven groaned, rolling over on his side.

~X~

"_Sasuke!_"

At that moment, Sasuke found himself standing in vast darkness again absent-mindedly.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice yelled again.

The Uchiha flinched and looked around.

The same dimension of darkness…and the same monster in front of him, glaring at him with

those malicious red eyes…

But then he heard a cry of pain from below and looked down to see the silhouette of a boy, sprawled on the ground…being enveloped by the monster's darkness.

_Shoot, _thought Sasuke, and he sprinted to where the shadowy figure was.

"Help me!" the boy yelled, squirming in the dark creature's grasp.

Then suddenly, the monster let out a roar. "Shut up!" At that moment, he tightened his grip on the child in front of him.

The silhouette let out another cry of pain.

Immediately, the raven knelt down and grabbed the latter's hand, trying to pull him away from the dark creature.

The shadowy figure let out a gasp and raised his head to look at the Uchiha.

Now, because the boy was a mere silhouette, Sasuke couldn't see his face at all. But there was one thing he didn't even need to see just to notice it—the fear on the latter's face.

The monster let out another roar, and suddenly, the raven felt a harsh tug forward.

The Uchiha winced, then stiffened when the boy cried out again.

From the sound of it, he was more than hurt now.

Another tug forward made the raven stumble.

"Don't let go!" he heard the boy shout in a desperate tone.

Sasuke stiffened after hearing the latter's comment, then looked at him. After a few seconds, he smirked at the silhouette and nodded once.

"Hn," he uttered.

The dark creature snarled and gave another violent tug.

The Uchiha stumbled a little after the action, but then held his ground and pulled back with all his heart.

Pretty soon, it was a tug-of-war between the raven and the monster—yet another remake of David and Goliath.

But this time…David made sure he won this battle.

Finally, it came to a point where both seemed exhausted. But Sasuke still wouldn't give up.

"It's useless, twerp!" the demonic beast cackled, continuing to violently tug on the smaller silhouette.

"Sasuke!" the latter cried out.

The raven hissed under his breath. He'd definitely had it with this fool. Then he paused, then looked up at the monster with a smirk on his face.

"What the…what's with that smile!" the beast drawled. "Don't make me laugh!"

But the Uchiha only continued to hold the smug expression on his face, and when he found the time right, he gave one final pull on the boy's arm—a tug with all his might—and soon, he found himself flying backwards to the ground, the silhouette falling next to him.

At that moment, both were exhausted, panting on the ground.

Soon, Sasuke noticed that it had gotten quieter as well, not counting his heavy breathing and the shadowy figure's. Then the following question popped into the raven's mind: _Had he gotten tired, too?_

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised his head up to look at the beast.

But he had spoken too soon.

Suddenly, all became a blur to the Uchiha. Then he heard a big bang.

The raven closed his eyes immediately after hearing the sound, but after a few minutes, it became silent again.

At that moment, Sasuke brought himself to open his eyes again to see what had just happened. And he noticed that his vision had become clear again. He then looked around and saw that the dark creature had disappeared.

But something else made the Uchiha gasp under his breath.

The monster was now gone, as was the smaller silhouette that the raven had just saved.

But someone else had replaced the shadowy figure. Someone…with bushy blonde hair and whiskers on his tan cheeks. Someone…with big cerulean eyes, now dull.

Sasuke stiffened and fell backwards, horrified by what he was now seeing.

Right in front of him, he saw Naruto Uzumaki, on his knees, with his arms outstretched protectively over him.

But what made the Uchiha's eyes bulge and mouth gape was the spot of scarlet on the blonde's stomach, growing every second that passed.

Then Naruto coughed violently and the raven saw streams of blood dripping down the latter's mouth.

"Dobe…" Sasuke muttered softly.

"Teme…" the blonde uttered weakly. A broken smile appeared on his face. Then, it disappeared in an instant—his once bright blue eyes becoming blank.

The raven's face became rigid.

Suddenly, Naruto groaned and fell forward into Sasuke's arms.

The Uchiha's eyes widened.

"_Dobe!_"

~X~

Sasuke gasped and immediately sat up, panting, beads of sweat forming on the nape of his neck.

At that very moment, questions and waves of confusion were flooding through his mind, until he found himself laid down on a patch of hay at the corner of the shack. The raven looked next to him and found Sai sitting down on the same patch of hay, looking at the Uchiha with a nervous expression on his face.

He looked back at the other raven with a stoic expression on his face, then suddenly felt a tinge of pain at the back of his head and winced. Sasuke slowly lifted his arm up to touch the back of his head when Sai grabbed his hand and calmly pulled it away.

"Don't touch it. You'll only end up making it worse," the other raven spoke.

The Uchiha stared blankly at Sai, then looked down at his knees. He paused for a long moment, then finally managed to speak in a low voice.

"What happened?"

Suddenly, he remembered his blonde friend and another wave of pain ran through the raven's head. He winced again. "Where's…where's Naruto?"

But there was no reply.

After a few minutes, Sasuke was about to ask again, when he heard voices in the distance. He slowly raised his head and saw Kiba talking to a group of boys, including Gaara, Shikamaru, and Neji. All had rigid, grim, or serious countenances.

That was when Sai finally spoke. He swallowed, then spoke in a soft tone. "He…took him away."

It took a while for the Uchiha to register this in his mind, for he was still a bit stunned from waking up from: 1) the horrendous nightmare he'd just had, and 2) the excruciating pain he was feeling on the back of his head.

Now by hearing that comment, he felt nothing but emptiness and sorrow in his heart because he wasn't able to help his friend…yet again.

There was a long pause. "…when you tried to get him away from Kyuubi, the man shoved you and you hit your head on the wall. After we saw how you defended Naruto like that, a lot started rushing towards you to make sure you were okay, and everyone else tried as much as they could, scrambling just to get Naruto away, no matter what it took. But still…it was useless, because Kyuubi was still a lot bigger and stronger than any of us, and eventually…" Sai turned his head towards the shack door with sad eyes.

Sasuke's eyes became rigid.

"He got him out of that door and slammed it in our faces. And after that…we never heard from Naruto again for almost two days now."

_Two days! _The raven thought to himself. _He'd been out that long?_

At that moment, he heard Kiba raising his voice on the other side of the shack.

"_What do you mean, we can't… We have to get him out of there, damn it! What if he…"_

The Uchiha paused, then turned to look at the brunette, who now had a frustrated expression on his face.

Sai spoke again. "All this time when you were out cold, everyone's been trying to think of a way to get Naruto out of that house—before nightfall."

A grim expression appeared on the short-haired raven's face. "But so far, we're only arguing here, because no one can agree with each other and all of our ideas have been fruitless."

Suddenly, Sasuke heard running footsteps coming in his direction. He slightly raised his head to see the boys running towards him.

"Uchiha!" Kiba called out. He sat down next to him. "You ok?"

Of course he wasn't. Not after what he'd heard happened. But the Inuzuka meant _physically, _after all. The Uchiha nodded once. "Hn."

It became silent for a while.

Then sadness filled the raven's obsidian eyes and he opened his mouth to speak but one word.

"Naruto."

At that moment, a grim expression appeared on the brunette's face, and he looked away. "So you heard what happened." Then, he exhaled sharply and scratched the back of his head. "We've gotta get that kid out of that house soon. We've just gotta. …God knows what he's gonna do to the idiot…" He shook his head slowly. "I couldn't do anything about it, Uchiha, and even now, I still don't know what's gonna happen. I'm sorry—we've done all we could, but we still don't have a clue on how we're gonna save Naruto. For all we know, he may just be a goner at this point…"

No reply.

The Inuzuka raised his head and turned to face the raven, but only saw that he was looking out the usual aperture with an intent expression on his face.

"Uchiha?"

But the latter's face only became rigid at that point. Then, after a few minutes, he reached into his pocket and was surprised to find a dagger—one with a light blue hilt and two turtledoves dancing together. But for some reason, it was no longer stained with blood.

All eyes were on Sasuke at that moment.

That was when an idea popped into the raven's head.

~o~

"What!" Kiba sputtered incredulously, as the two of them strode through the tall grass.

But the raven only continued to walk towards the damaged piece of fencing, and the brunette had no choice but to follow him.

Finally, the two were standing in front of the brightly colored tape, which Sasuke began to tear apart.

"Are you _trying _to get us killed, Uchiha? You know what happened already! The same thing's gonna happen again!"

At that moment, the raven paused. "No." Then he turned to face the brunette with an intent expression on his face. "I won't let it." He tore another piece of tape off the fencing.

The brunette stood silently, taken aback by the latter's countenance.

~o~

Later that day, Sasuke finally explained his plan to the Inuzuka, which he also claimed was yet another chance at escaping from the ranch.

And the brunette became appalled when he saw that it was very similar to the blonde's first planned escape attempt. But as the raven went into further detail, he gradually came into agreement.

Again, they would wait at night until Kyuubi fell asleep and truned his house lights off. Then, they would sneak out of the shack and into Kyuubi's house to save Naruto. Finally, they would run as fast as they could to the damaged section of the fence and escape, where by that time, all the tape would be gone and the hole in the fence would be made bigger, to lessen the chances of anyone getting caught in the wiring. Earlier that day, when the Uchiha and Kiba were preparing the escape route, they had also decided to set Kit free so that she would no longer be involved in Kyuubi's plots of torture.

Eventually, Kiba agreed to Sasuke's idea, which also encouraged the rest of the children to follow along as well. They, too, wanted to save a friend from the evil clutches of Norbert Kyuubi, and most importantly, they wanted to _go home_ to their loving parents.

Sasuke Uchiha had the same intentions as well, but he also created this plan for something else.

He was definitely sick of getting his butt saved all the time by that dobe, and it was gradually ruining his reputation as an Uchiha, the most prestigious family in all of Konoha.

He felt that he needed to do something for him, too, in exchange. It was only right.

Naruto always works too frickin' hard, and he should share the effort (or the blame).

Naruto helped him get a better view on life and was now his…friend?

He wanted to help his best friend do what he couldn't do before.

But even with all these reasons, he still couldn't help but think to himself. Why was he still going so far for this one person?

~o~

"Is he asleep yet?" a boy asked.

"Shh. Not yet—his lights are still on."

"How about both of you shut up so we don't get caught? Wait for Sasuke's signal," Kiba ordered.

At that moment, the Uchiha crouched down low behind the tall grass, keeping his gaze on Kyuubi's home as light shone through all windows. But at the same time, he thought of what was possibly happening to Naruto in there or more importantly, if he was still _alive. _The raven winced. What _would_ they find in that house?

~o~

After a few more hours, Sasuke looked up at the house groggily, almost half-asleep at that moment. But then his gaze became intent when he saw that all of Kyuubi's windows were now dark.

Immediately, he waved his hand at the also half-asleep Kiba, who stumbled inside to get the other children ready.

~o~

The children crept silently across the tall grass, with Kiba and Sasuke at the front of the group, looking cautiously at their surroundings.

Until finally, they had reached the front of the tyrant's house and snuck around the back until they were standing in front of the masked man's window.

The group came to a halt, and Sasuke took a step forward to peer into the window, but only saw pitch-blackness. He turned, and signaled for the children to take a step back and be quiet, then asked Kiba to help him slowly open the window.

~o~

The two cautiously crept into what they knew as Kyuubi's room, avoiding any objects on the floor and any loose floorboards that might creak.

And it was dark in that room—pitch-black. So dark that Sasuke and Kiba had to literally feel their way around, but at a careful pace.

The raven made the first move, and began whispering the blonde's name.

"Naruto?"

No response.

As time passed, anxiety and adrenaline began to fill the Uchiha's heart—and some form of _fear_, which he hadn't felt in a long time, which was _before _he met the masked tyrant. But it wasn't just fear for himself. It was a fear of seeing what Kyuubi had done to his friend, or worse—getting caught by Kyuubi himself. But he wouldn't stop looking.

Sasuke decided to take a few steps ahead of Kiba and continue to feel his way around, careful not to bump or step on anything.

That was when he felt something…soft. And bushy.

At that moment, the Uchiha stopped in his tracks and stiffened when he heard a low groan coming from just in front of him and felt the figure stir underneath his hand.

He squinted in the moonlight, trying to see what or _who_ he was touching, and froze when he saw that what he was touching was none other than a mop of messy blonde hair. His face became even more rigid when he saw a pair of tired, cerulean eyes open and look right at him.

"Naruto?"

Another groan came from the figure, and he shuffled closer to the moonlight. But midway, he stumbled and fell over.

Sasuke shrank back and caught the silhouette in his arms, holding him close. And he stiffened to see that it was, indeed, his blonde friend.

"Naruto."

At that moment, the blonde stirred and looked tiredly into the raven's coal-black eyes. "Sa…suke." Then, his eyes widened, the pools of sapphire twinkling. "What are you doing here?"

The raven couldn't help but smirk at the surprised look on the latter's face and felt some warmth and comfort inside his heart when he saw the sparkle come back to the blonde's ocean eyes.

"Now why else would we even _be_ here, dobe? We're getting you out of here."

At that moment, the blonde's eyes softened.

The Uchiha's eyes softened as well, especially upon seeing his best friend again under the dim moonlight. "Are you all right?" He knew it was a stupid question to ask, but he just couldn't take the silence.

But Naruto didn't reply.

The raven shifted his eyes and saw that the latter was looking down at his hands and feet.

Sasuke stiffened when he saw more cuts and bruises all over his body, and what was worse was that the poor kid's hands and feet was tied up in tight knots—so tight that the rope was literally digging into his skin.

At that point, the raven didn't hesitate to untie the blonde with some assistance from Kiba.

The blonde groaned in pain as his arms dropped to his sides, and the Uchiha winced when he saw deep, red welts on his wrists and on his ankles.

He felt Kiba wince, too, from behind, after seeing what Kyuubi had done to the latter this time.

The fanged brunette opened his mouth to speak. "Kyuubi's not in his room, is he?"

Naruto stirred and weakly shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

The blonde shuffled, then began to sit up, wincing in pain. But the raven stopped him and supported his back. His face tightened from the hurt expression Naruto had on his face, and from just looking at him, Sasuke could tell that Kyuubi had hurt the kid again. And this time…it had been worse.

But still, this didn't keep Naruto from talking. "He's in the other room," he croaked. "After it finally came to a point where he said he was sick of seeing my face, he left me here tied up and went to sleep in the other room." He hissed in pain when he continued to sit up, and clutched his stomach.

The raven's face became rigid when he saw that the latter's clothes had been torn again, and his eyes tightened after seeing his friend broken down and hurt. He thought to himself and agreed that this would be the last time. The Uchiha paused, then turned to face the blue-eyed boy with gentle eyes.

Naruto looked back with dull, sad eyes.

Sasuke's gaze softened. "Can you stand?"

The blonde paused and began to stand up, but only ended up falling back into the raven's arms. "No. It hurts too much."

The raven paused, then turned to face Kiba.

The brunette nodded once.

At that moment, the Uchiha shifted over in front of the blonde, and the Inuzuka carefully helped the latter onto the raven's back.

Naruto sighed and rested his head on Sasuke's shoulder. "Where are we going?"

The other two stiffened.

Finally, Sasuke spoke in a low voice. "We're going home."

Kiba looked at the raven with a wary countenance, than shifted his eyes towards the blonde, who immediately shrank back after hearing what the Uchiha had said, for he knew what he meant by that.

At that moment, Sasuke turned his head to face the blonde somewhat reassuringly. "Don't worry. This time, everything's going to be okay."

At first, Naruto was still doubtful of what the raven was planning, but relaxed after hearing his calming tone. "All right." He closed his tired eyes and rested his head on the raven's shoulder.

The Uchiha's eyes softened, then he turned to look at Kiba.

"Let's go," the fanged brunette spoke in a wary tone. "Before he wakes up."

The raven nodded once, and the two carefully climbed out of the window.

~o~

All of the children ran as fast as they could to the escape route.

"We need to hurry," Neji spoke cautiously. "God knows when that fool's going to wake up."

"I'll take the lead from here," Sasuke spoke, and rushed to the front of the group.

"Be careful. You've actually got something on your back, you know," Kiba spoke, a little humor in his tone.

But the raven only glanced back and rolled his eyes, smirking.

The brunette grinned back.

But suddenly, for some reason, the Inuzuka's smile faded, and everyone stopped in their tracks.

Pretty soon, Sasuke had to stop, too. And when he did, he saw that the children's faces had grown fearful, including Naruto, who had immediately woken up when the raven stopped. At that moment, the blonde's eyes had grown wide and terrified, as if he was seeing a ghost. But it was much worse.

The Uchiha gulped and slowly turned his head, only to see a masked man standing right in front of their escape route…

Kyuubi grinned devilishly and looked at the children, his eyes gleaming behind his scarlet bandanna. But this time, his gaze was focused on the raven, who at that moment, was still carrying his blonde friend on his back.

"Surprise."

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Again, sorry this took so long… ^_^"; And I know this is what you all may be thinking, if not more:

_Gah! Stupid Kyuubi! *rips his head off and throws him down the deepest well possible...or VOLCANO, if you wanna be more, uh...? XD*_

BUT. Sadly, there's still more to come. T_T And it's not pretty… TT_TT But that's all I can say here. ^^"

Stay tuned for the next chapter! ^w^ (and did I mention that we only have _4 more days _until SasuNaru Day! OwO *cough* and Suzaku's birthday, for those of you who also love Code Geass… *raises hand*)

Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

*****As usual, reviews would be appreciated very muchly. ^~^*****


	13. Chapter 13: Unexpected

_**Chapter 13: Unexpected**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Mini-shoutout to mah awesome reviewers: Thanks so much for taking the time to read my stuff—I really appreciate it. ^_^ :bows: Especially the ones who reviewed for like more than one chapter. ^w^ I'm going to like send you all fruit baskets from the bottom of my heart…like in your dreams or something. XD And I'll make sure they're full of citrus, too. XDDD

Now, back to the story… ^_^" At this point, we've reached the climax of the story…I think. I'm pretty sure we did, especially since I'm on my frickin' _thirteenth _chapter now. XD Did I mention that this was supposed to be like a oneshot when I first thought of this? XDDD Yeah, I know—right. There's absolutely no frickin' way I would be able to fit all this inside _one _chapter. Even **Silver **(who is currently having fun in India at this very moment) said the same thing. ^_^";

Phew, so—on with the story. ^w^ Enjoy~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

~o~

"My, my, my," the masked tyrant sneered. "Aren't _we _up past our bedtime?" He chuckled darkly and took a step forward.

Almost immediately, the children took two steps back away from Kyuubi.

The villain paused, then shifted his eyes towards the young blonde riding on the raven's back. He smiled devilishly. "And Naruto—I see you've been a naughty boy again."

At that moment, Kyuubi slowly stepped forward.

Sasuke stiffened as the blonde began to cringe on his back.

From behind his scarlet red bandanna, the tyrant's mouth twisted into a wicked grin, and he glanced back at the escape route, the tape torn apart and fence wide open. "Trying to escape from me…how about that?" He lifted his hand to touch the blue-eyed boy.

But before the masked man could even reach Naruto, the Uchiha instinctively bit down on the villain's palm as hard as he could, tasting a little blood in his mouth.

"Ow!" Immediately, the tyrant pulled back his hand, and examined the little but deep teeth marks just around his thumb, hissing in pain. "Why, you little…"

But surprisingly, the masked man was still able to compose himself, and looked back up with another smug grin on his face, this time focusing his gaze on the young raven in the front.

"Well, if it isn't Sasuke Uchiha, trying to be our high and mighty hero of the day," Kyuubi gibed.

But Sasuke only responded with an icy glare. Usually, he kept everything to himself, even when he was pissed off—all Uchihas did. But at that moment, the raven was a lot more than annoyed. He was literally _ticked off_—no, a _lot more_ than ticked off—at the man standing in front of him with that stupid bandanna on his face. So pissed that one could see it in his now dark, intent obsidian eyes, as if the flames of Amaterasu were burning within each of them. He was sick of being pushed around by this fool and seeing others get violently hurt in front of his very eyes, especially Naruto. And every time he saw his new friend hurt, it only ticked him off even more. It wasn't like this guy was a…a _god. _Right now, only one thought ran through the Uchiha's mind.

_This. Guy. Has. To frickin' die. …NOW._

"Sasuke…" the raven heard Naruto mutter softly.

Suddenly, Norbert Kyuubi began to chortle. "C'mon, Uchiha—all I want is my buddy Naruto back…" Again, he reached his hand up to grab the blonde's arm, but Sasuke instantly pulled away, his glare becoming even more intense.

"Fiery, aren't we?" he continued to gibe, taking small steps around the Uchiha and faking hand motions.

At this point, the raven was really, _really _pissed off.

Finally, the tyrant paused and grinned impishly at Sasuke. "Unless you want to be next in line."

And before the Uchiha knew it, the masked man was already lunging towards him, as if he were some sort of demonic beast, cackling evilly.

But this time the raven wouldn't deal with this crap. Instead of backing away as he usually would have done, he quickly put Naruto down and met the man head-on, tackling his stomach with all his might, which sent him stumbling back towards the fence with the most surprised expression on his face.

All eyes widened.

Sasuke glared coldly at the tyrant, now leaning against the fence, clutching his stomach and cursing under his breath. "Fuckin' smartass…"

At that point, Kyuubi was no longer in a mood of jerking around. From behind his bandanna, those coal-black eyes gleamed like hell. In other words: He. Was. Pissed.

The tyrant hissed and muttered under his breath, "Why do I even bother wasting my time with these stupid little brats…" He raised his head up slightly and whistled. Then, he glared at the children with a twisted smile. "You're _really _in for it now, twerps."

At that moment, the children froze with terrified faces, not wishing to know what the man now had in store for them.

Naruto gulped.

Kyuubi cackled. "Okami! Be a dear and rip these runts to shreds for me, will ya?" He laughed again.

But this made Kiba and Sasuke relax a little, and they looked at each other.

When the creature did not respond or arrive to its master's call, the tyrant couldn't help but whistle again, assuming his pet did not hear him. "Okami!"

But there was still no response. And both Kiba and Sasuke knew that their furry friend—_Kit—_would not be coming back any time soon, for they had made the choice to set the fox free into the forest.

When they turned back to look at Kyuubi, they found him looking around aimlessly for the animal with a confused and irritated countenance.

"Okami?" he called again.

The tyrant looked around again, then accidentally tripped over the wiring of the escape route, falling on the other side.

Before the children even knew it, Kyuubi was already furious when he saw the empty collar hanging on the fence. He let out a roar and immediately got up, storming towards the terrified group of children.

The masked man growled. "You…you _brats!_" He snarled. "What the hell have you done to my poor, sweet Okami?"

But Sasuke still wasn't shaken. "Hn. She's free now. Out in the forest to go back home where she belongs, like where we all should be. Safe outside of this dump and as far away from you as possible," he spoke in an unwavering tone.

At that moment, the tyrant focused his glare on the raven, his eyes becoming more intent. This time, he was definitely in no mood to be joking around—it was _dangerous_.

Before the Uchiha could even speak another word, Kyuubi was already holding him up by his shirt collar, shaking him violently. He hissed. "It was you, wasn't it! You're the little shit who put up this stupid farce in the first place and got rid of my Okami, now didn't ya!"

At that point, Sasuke's mood changed in an instant. Right now, he was more scared out of his mind than he was before, for this was an entirely different Kyuubi he was seeing. He was no longer the gibing, sarcastic imp he saw in the beginning. Now…he was more of a _monster_. A monster with dangerous, burning black eyes, his face covered with a blood-red bandanna. A monster…like the one he'd seen in his nightmare.

Suddenly, the tyrant gave the raven another violent jerk, which actually made the latter cringe slightly. Then he lowered his head down close to the Uchiha's and snarled. "I'm gonna kill you, you little shit. You'd think I was only playing around this whole time you've been here. But the truth is, you're one of the ones that piss me off the most, and lately, I've only been biding my time here." He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun, shoving it underneath Sasuke's chin. "But now…I'm gonna end it with Mr. Bullet Bill and do what I should have done eons ago."

The children's eyes widened, and they all gasped.

At that moment, Naruto froze, his mouth gaping and eyes bulging.

While from the back…Kiba closed his eyes and hung his head, with a solemn expression on his face.

At that moment, the raven was literally scared to death, knowing what the fool would do next in a matter of time.

But before Kyuubi could pull the trigger, Kiba Inuzuka ran up to the front.

"Stop," he spoke in a loud but unwavering tone.

At that moment, the tyrant let go of the trigger and shifted his eyes towards the brunette. "And who are you to tell me what to fuckin' do here, 'O Great Wiseass? Tell me—why the hell are you even bothering to tick me off even more when I'm already _this _pissed off, huh? _Why?_"

The fanged boy paused, then looked at the Uchiha with sad eyes and soon shifted them towards Naruto. Then, he hung his head.

"Because…I'm the one who did all this. I'm the one who let Okami go and ripped up every piece of tape on that fence. I'm the one you want here, not anyone else. So do whatever you want to me now."

The children froze, their eyes widening, especially Sasuke. No one expected this coming.

But before they all knew it, Kyuubi had already dropped the raven and grabbed the brunette's arm, his grip tight. Then, he began leading the Inuzuka away from the children and in the direction of his…his "humble abode."

But as the fanged boy passed by the Uchiha, he briefly lowered his head and whispered something in the latter's ear. Then he continued to walk past him.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing at that moment.

"Kiba…" the young blonde spoke softly, placing his hand on the brunette's shoulder.

This made the Inuzuka stop for a moment and turn to face his closest friend.

And it hurt Kiba to see the hurt and sorrow he saw in Naruto's eyes at that moment, tears beginning to form under them.

But at that time, the brunette only broke a huge, happy-go-lucky grin across his face. "Stop frowning and smile already, you moron."

In an instant, the blonde's eyes widened in disbelief, his mouth gaping. "Kiba…"

The fanged boy nodded once. "Don't worry about me anymore."

But the latter could only stare back at his friend, stunned by his words.

And before the blue-eyed boy could respond, Kiba was already being dragged away by Kyuubi.

All the children stood there quietly, unable to move. They couldn't—not after what they were seeing.

And before they even realized it, they saw an orange light and billows of smoke coming from the back of the tyrant's house.

The children gasped.

Almost immediately, Naruto began rushing towards Kyuubi's house. But Sasuke only ran over and pulled the struggling blonde back, soon being helped by Sai and Gaara.

At that moment, tears were already coming down the blonde's face, his teeth clenched.

"_KIBA!"_

The blue-eyed boy let out a frustrated sob and dropped to his knees.

At the same time, the raven couldn't help but feel sorrow in his heart as well…and as _hurt _as Naruto.

But as he watched what was going on at that very moment, he heard a boy mutter behind his back.

"He was brave enough that he didn't even scream."

~o~

When daylight came, it was quiet in the shack. No signs of laughter or even the slightest smile. The atmosphere was…depressing.

Sasuke sat in the corner of the shack with his knees curled up and head hanging. Of course he was the one who felt like a complete idiot after the recent event. Especially since it should have been _him _who should have suffered that terrible fate.

He winced, then looked up Naruto, who at that moment was staring aimlessly out the usual aperture with dull eyes.

The raven sighed. But what could he have done? Kiba was the one who literally chose to stand in his place—to deal with the tyrant himself. …to even go so far as to _die _for him. He didn't expect any of it. But still…he couldn't stand seeing his blonde friend emotionally hurt at that moment. He just…couldn't.

At that moment, the Uchiha hung his head and slowly got up. But what could he do now? Of course he wouldn't be able to bring Kiba back—he wasn't a superhero or anything. He was only a guy, for goodness sake. …but he had to at least try. It didn't hurt him the first time, right?

Sasuke sighed. _Well…here goes. _He walked up to the blonde and stood behind him. "Naruto."

No reply.

But that didn't stop the raven from trying, even when he knew how socially retarded he was like most Uchihas. "I know how much pain you're feeling right now."

Silence.

"…and I'm really sorry about what happened."

Still no reply.

"…dobe?"

But to the raven's surprise, the blonde turned to face him with bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "Don't…don't even bother talking to me."

The Uchiha's eyes widened, stunned by the sudden mood change. "Dobe."

Almost immediately, Naruto pushed Sasuke away. "Don't call me that!" he growled.

The raven stumbled back, still surprised. He'd never seen the blonde this angry before.

The blue-eyed boy growled again. "You still don't get it…do you?"

The Uchiha stared back blankly.

Naruto sniffled. "Darn it…" He let out a frustrated sob, then shoved Sasuke away again.

At that point, the raven knew the latter was upset. More upset than he'd ever been. So he didn't speak another word and let the boy release his grief and anger.

The blonde sniffled again. "Stupid Kiba…you had to go and…and save…ngah!" He punched a barrel of potatoes and sobbed. Then he looked at the Uchiha. "Why'd you have to go and do that, huh? You already _knew _what happened the first time! And now…now even _Kiba's _gone, too…" He wiped his eyes and let out another sob. "…if you hadn't come along, this never would have happened. _Any _of it. So why…why'd you have to butt in?" He glared at Sasuke. "I wish you never even came here in the first place!"

The raven winced. He really was upset.

Suddenly, Naruto shoved the Uchiha away.

"Get out of my sight."

"Dobe…"

"Ugh!" he growled as he pushed Sasuke yet again.

The raven couldn't help but feel a little pain in his heart.

The blonde sobbed, then whipped his head up. "Go away! I never want to see you again!" In an instant, he ran off, never looking back.

The Uchiha stood there speechlessly, staring after young Naruto as he stormed away in frustration.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Finished. Thank God for free time. ^_^

But this chapter was yet another sad one…and I don't blame Naruto for getting all upset. Sure, he yelled at Sasuke and everything, but still—here, Kiba was one of his closest friends before Sasu even came along. I mean, come on—I'd be upset, too. =(

The next chapter will be interesting—I can tell you that. ~wO

Stay tuned~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

*****As usual, reviews would be appreciated muchly. ^w^ Thankies~!*****


	14. Chapter 14: In Return

_**Chapter 14: In Return**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

:sigh: Yeah—don't have much to say right now. But…yeah. XD

Enjoy~! ^~^ Oh, and HAPPY SASUNARU DAY EVERYONE! =^w^= (and Happy Birthday to Suzaku from Code Geass. ^_^ SuzaLulu forever!)

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

~o~

For the rest of the day, everything changed within the shack. It was silent…and depressing. Almost like the very same day when Hinata had died.

At that moment, Sasuke Uchiha was sitting just outside the usual aperture with his knees curled up, looking aimlessly at the sky, as if he were looking for some form of sanctuary within it…a sign of _help_, at least. But he knew he would find nothing at that point.

Because of him, the only other person he could talk to was gone, and his best friend, on the other hand, was having a mental breakdown.

The raven hung his head, then glanced back towards the inside of the shack, only to see the blonde sitting in the same corner by himself, the same way he had been before—with everyone shunning him from their world, turning their backs on him as if he didn't even exist. To the rest of the children, it was like Hinata Hyuga all over again, and this time, they had become more fearful of trusting yet another, including Sasuke Uchiha.

At that moment, the Uchiha felt bad himself. He didn't know all this was going to happen, more or less…Kiba Inuzuka giving his own life for the sake of them. And he'd only wanted to help. But all that had changed—and not for the better. For the worse.

The raven sighed and turned his head to face the supposed escape route, now rewired and sealed up by Norbert Kyuubi the tyrant, although it was still as messed up as it had been the first time. But still, it seemed impossible to even untangle the first few wires by hand.

Sasuke slowly closed his eyes.

That night, no one had decided to go through the fence when they had the chance, even though they had been looking forward to it for a very long time. Not after they'd seen what happened to Kiba. After that event, some were too upset to even go on with the plan, just as Naruto had been, for Kiba had literally been a good friend to everyone in the shack and could not be forgotten. On the other hand, more than half were too terrified to even take another step, even if it meant going back home. To the children, Kiba Inuzuka had been their leader, and without him, the group was disorganized. Even if they did escape, how would they even figure out where to go without guidance?

The raven paused, then stood up to walk towards the resealed fence. He knelt down and reached his hand out to touch the newly placed wires.

What was he going to do now? He sighed, then leaned his head against the fence closing his eyes. Kyuubi was in town that day, restocking on whiskey and red wine again. He wouldn't be coming back until much later on.

And it wasn't as if anyone cared that he was just sitting out here by himself moping around…

~o~

Suddenly, after a few minutes, he heard a rustling sound.

And then he heard soft laughter. _"Sasuke."_

The raven blinked, then slowly raised his head to look around.

Again, he heard another wave of soft laughter—and the voice was female.

It seemed as if it was coming from the bushes on the farther side of the fencing surrounding the ranch.

He paused, then slowly walked over to the bushes. The young Uchiha crouched down and peeked through the green bushes, seeing if the source of laughter would be there.

He found nothing. But instead, what he saw was unbelievable.

Behind the bushes, the raven found a gaping hole in the fence, covered with twigs and leaves, but big enough for more than one small child to even slip through. He couldn't believe his eyes.

And from how it looked, there were no loose wires and except for the twigs and leaves, it would be a perfectly clear escape route—_foolproof. _But then he looked around with cautious eyes, checking to see if it was a trap.

And it wasn't. At that moment, Sasuke could even escape now if he wanted to. But he didn't—he couldn't leave the others behind.

Suddenly, he heard the soft laughter again and turned around. And for a moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of a familiar light blue skirt reaching down to the ground. But the next minute, he saw nothing more.

The Uchiha hesitated for a moment, then turned back to the new escape route. He had to tell the others about this…but would they even listen to him this time? And Naruto… He hung his head.

Then he remembered the blonde's plan. How he wanted to change everyone's hearts for the better…how he wanted to make the world a better place…and how he refused to give up.

Even Kiba had wanted to follow along before. He had told him, as they were taking the tape apart, that he might even consider it when they all got out.

The brunette had laughed.

"_But dreams don't come true unless you want them to and actually do something about it. You actually have to __**try **__in this world."_

The Inuzuka chuckled and looked up at the sky.

"_And to think of it, at the rate on how Naruto's working his butt off…things might actually work out."_

He looked at Sasuke.

"_What do you think, Uchiha?"_

The raven closed his eyes, and got up.

He had to get them to trust him again.

~o~

"What do you want now, Uchiha?" a boy asked with an annoyed tone. "Haven't you already done enough?"

And when the raven had mentioned the word "escape" again, the children immediately stopped what they were doing and looked up at the raven with morose expressions on their faces.

"What makes you think this will work?" another boy asked.

At that moment, more children began to argue in disagreement.

But then Sasuke spoke again, in an unwavering tone. "I made a mistake, and now I'm fixing it by helping you all."

"But what can you do!" a boy blurted out. "You're just like the rest of us! You were dragged here by that fool as well, and he tricked you, too! What makes you think you're any smarter than us?"

"Wrong," the Uchiha spoke firmly, looking into the boy's eyes. Then he looked at the others. "Unlike you, I _had _a choice."

The children murmured.

Naruto stared at the raven with a blank expression on his face.

Sasuke went on. "You see, I wasn't taken from my home like the rest of you. I ran away from it, and I chose to come along with Kyuubi because I thought he'd understand me better than my parents ever would."

Gasps were heard.

The Uchiha closed his eyes. "But I know that was wrong. I shouldn't have run away from home like that, and I shouldn't have chosen Kyuubi, who _lied _to me, over my parents who truly did love me no matter what. And I realized this mistake after a certain someone literally changed my heart." He looked into Naruto's eyes. "He helped me see just how blind I was, and now I have a better view of this world we live in right now. And I believe we can even make this world a better place, if we just _tried_. And…I'm starting by fixing my own mistake—by helping all of you get out of this dump!"

At that moment, the blonde stiffened a little.

The Uchiha raised his head. "Now then…who's with me?"

However, the children only became doubtful, afraid of the outcome of this. So they turned their backs on the raven and walked away.

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, to see if he had listened to him, but found that even he had turned his back on him and walked away like the others.

But what the raven didn't see was the unsure but soft expression on the blonde's face.

~o~

The Uchiha sighed and sat down on his usual patch of hay. At least he tried.

Soon, he saw his blonde friend again, sitting on another nearby patch of hay.

Sasuke winced, then slowly got up to approach the latter yet again. He had to talk to him again.

The raven sat down next to Naruto and was silent for a couple of minutes.

The blonde made no response as well.

Finally, the Uchiha spoke calmly. "Dobe."

Silence.

Sasuke paused, looking down at his feet. "I don't expect you to forgive me or even talk to me again…but I just need you to listen to what I have to say."

Still no reply.

But the raven still went on. "I'm sorry about what happened to Kiba. I know that he was your best friend, and how much it hurts."

Silence.

"…but I didn't want any of it to happen. All I wanted was to help."

No response.

"But he was a good friend to me, too. Don't get me wrong."

The blonde slightly shifted his eyes towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke chuckled. "He was the one who actually talked to me when you weren't around. And that whole time…"

Naruto listened.

"…he mostly talked about you."

No response.

The raven went on. "Hn. He told me…how much he thought of you as his best friend. And he told me how bad he felt hurting you all the time."

The blonde stiffened.

"Dobe, he said he'd already forgiven you a long time ago…but he couldn't figure out how to get the words out. And he told me how bad he felt seeing you trying to help the other kids in this shack, not even bothering to think about yourself."

Naruto froze.

"_You don't have to worry about me anymore."_

"He wanted to make it up to you, to take some of the burden off your shoulders. Kiba still cared for you, Naruto. That's why he helped me the other night—because he wanted to help you. And he even wanted to go along with your plan to change the world, thinking that it would make you happy."

"Why are you telling me this?" the blonde spoke in a shaky voice. "What does it matter to you? Why…why do you even _care?_"

"Because…I'm not gonna let you throw everything away like that."

The latter looked up at the raven, eyes wide.

Sasuke stared back with a blank expression on his face.

~o~

The two didn't speak another word to each other for the rest of the day and sat quietly on their own stacks of hay on separate sides of the room.

Everyone was quiet at the same time—so quiet that the silence was deafening.

Until the door banged open.

At that moment, all children froze as Norbert Kyuubi stood in the narrow doorway with a twisted grin on his face. And from the look of it, it was as if he had taken too much to drink at the town bar—he was seriously intoxicated.

But the man was used to it. Ever since he'd lost his wife, he became isolated and lonely—surrendering himself into cigarettes and liquor. And sometimes…one couldn't help but feel a little pity for the guy, deep down at the bottom of their hearts. Naruto was one of them, as he'd mentioned before.

The masked man chuckled and stumbled into the shack with a giddy expression on his face. "Hey there, kiddies," he slurred.

But all were as silent as mice…terrified, wide-eyed mice. God knew what this man was going to do to them next.

Kyuubi laughed raucously and clumsily took another step towards the children. "I bet you're all wondering why I'm here now, ain't that right, children?"

Some began to cringe.

The tyrant chortled again and looked around. "You see, I like all sorts of games—don't get me wrong, kids. Y'all know how fun-loving Norbert Kyuubi is."

Other children stiffened.

"…but there's just one thing," Kyuubi chuckled. He raised his head to look at the children with another stupid grin on his face. "I need a new playmate."

This time, everyone literally froze.

The masked man laughed as he saw the horrified looks on the children's faces. "I know how you kiddies just _love_ to play these days." He took a step forward into the crowd, causing the little ones to take a few steps back.

"Well, then…" the tyrant chortled darkly, gesturing towards the children. "How about it, guys? Who here wants to be Uncle Kyuubi's new _pal_?" At the same time, he briefly glanced at Naruto, who gulped upon eye contact.

The raven stiffened. Hadn't this monster already done enough?

At that moment, the masked man began to stagger towards the young blonde sitting on the stack of hay. Naruto shrank back.

Kyuubi snickered and reached out his hand, clumsily brushing it against the latter's cheek.

The blonde began to tremble and closed his eyes, not wishing to take another look at the man, who'd already done more than enough to make his life miserable.

In an instant, Sasuke's face became rigid.

The tyrant began to chuckle sinisterly as he saw the son of his deceased enemy cringe with fear under his hand, savoring the long-term revenge he was taking.

At that moment, the Uchiha clenched his fists. Again, his heart became filled with rage and contempt. But this time, he did not wish to show it. This time…he didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of it. So he did something entirely different.

"Eh?" Norbert Kyuubi muttered as he noticed the raven now standing in front of the blonde, looking into his eyes with a blank expression on his face. He scratched his chin. "What do you want, twerp? Can't you see I'm busy here picking my new friend to play with?" He began to advance towards Naruto again.

"Stop," the raven merely spoke in an unwavering tone, holding his ground.

The masked man stopped and stared at Sasuke with a baffled, drunk countenance. "Huh? And why should I listen to you? Are you the King of England?"

"No," the Uchiha spoke firmly. He looked into the tyrant's coal-black eyes. "I'm your new playmate. Take me instead."

The children gasped and froze.

Naruto's eyes bulged, and his mouth gaped. "Sasuke…"

But the raven didn't look back. His face only grew a bit grim.

And Kyuubi's eyes widened, intrigued by the sudden offer. "Hmm. Well, then—aren't talking business today?" He scratched his chin, interested. "I think I might agree with you this time, Uchiha. Unlike Naruto here, I don't even think you've been inside the magical castle of King Kyuubi _once_, now have you, my little mushroom?"

The man was literally a sick fuck. But the alcohol…just made him _eccentric._

Naruto trembled. "Sasuke, no!" he whispered frantically. "You don't have to do this! You'll—"

But the blonde didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Hey!" the tyrant yelled, now infuriated all of a sudden. In an instant, the masked man had knocked Naruto to the ground, his eyes gleaming. He hissed at the blonde. "No talking to my new best buddy, you little shit! Back off!"

The blue-eyed boy slowly raised his head from the floor and gulped.

But despite Kyuubi's rage, the raven calmly knelt down beside his blonde friend and helped him up, looking at him reassuringly. The same look Kiba had given him before…

"Don't do it," Naruto spoke in a soft, desperate tone. "You idiot, don't do it. Please, I'm begging you…"

The Uchiha only gave a soft chuckle. He looked at the blonde, stroking his bushy hair. "We're even now, dobe. This time…you don't have to worry about me."

The blue-eyed boy stiffened, his eyes wide.

But before Naruto could even respond, Kyuubi had already punched Sasuke across the face.

The raven cried out in pain as he hit the ground, clutching his cheek that now had a purple bruise.

"Sasuke!" the blonde cried.

The tyrant growled and yanked the Uchiha up by his arm. "I just said, don't talk to them!" he snarled. "You're mine now!" He hissed, dragging the raven towards the shack door.

Naruto was horrified. "No!" he shouted, grabbing Kyuubi's leg.

But the masked man merely shook the blonde off and whirled around, kicking him in the stomach. "Shut the fuck up already!"

The blue-eyed boy clutched his stomach and cried out in pain. Then, he looked up, desperately reaching his arm out as if there was still a chance that he would be able to save his best friend.

"Sasuke!"

But the door slammed shut.

And Naruto lay on the ground in defeat, his eyes filled with utter melancholia. "Teme…"

~o~

That afternoon, the blonde had spent his time out in the usual spot, absent-mindedly fumbling with a few blades of tall grass. His countenance was blank, and his eyes were sullen and dull.

"_We're even now, dobe. This time…you don't have to worry about me."_

"_You don't have to worry about me anymore."_

"_I'm not gonna let you throw everything away like that."_

A tear fell down onto one of the blades of grass Naruto was holding. "You stupid idiot…" He raised his head to look up at the sky with sad eyes.

_What the heck am I gonna do now?_

At that moment, he shifted his eyes towards the two unique stars in the distance, but noticed that one was now duller than the other.

The blonde gasped. Then he buried his head in his knees and growled.

Suddenly, he whipped his head up and glared up at the sky. "What the hell are you all expecting me to do _now? _Huh!" Then he lowered his head again and sobbed.

But at that same time, Naruto heard a wave of soft female laughter coming from afar.

The blonde sniffled and raised his head up slightly. And he saw nothing.

But just when he was about to lower his head again, he heard the laughter again and a small whisper.

"_Naruto."_

Almost immediately, the blue-eyed boy stood up with an awed countenance. He recognized the voice.

…but he couldn't believe it.

~o~

Eventually, Naruto followed the voice into the bushes, where the laughter finally stopped.

And the blonde couldn't believe his eyes.

A tall woman, with fair skin and long, light blonde hair was standing in front of him. She was wearing a bonnet and a baby blue dress that reached down to her feet. And she was smiling at the surprised latter.

The boy's eyes widened in disbelief, and his mouth gaped.

"…Okami?"

But the only response he received was soft laughter.

Naruto shrank back and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. But when he opened his eyes to look in front of him again, the woman had disappeared.

Instead, a large gaping hole replaced her, and it was covered in twigs and leaves. It was yet another hole in the wired fence, but bigger than the others he had seen. From the looks of it, about two small children at a time could fit through the aperture unnoticed, for the opening was completely camouflaged by the bushes surrounding it. And no one was guarding it.

The blonde winced as all of it sank into his head. The perfect escape route…

And at that moment, Naruto thought he heard the woman laugh yet again.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Sasuke finally steps in to save the day, huh? T_T (By the way, I was playing Super Mario at the same time—fighting Bowser—when I was writing part of this. XD Just for those of you who were curious. ^^")

:sigh: The next chapter will be the biggest turning point of the story. I can tell you that right now. Stay tuned for the next chapter, because you do _not _want to miss it. OwO

Until then…Happy SasuNaru Day everyone~! =^w^=

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

*****As usual, reviews would be appreciated muchly. ^~^ Salamat! (that's Tagalog/Filipino for Thank You)*****


	15. Chapter 15: More than a Friend

_**Chapter 15: More than a Friend**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

As promised. Don't blink even _once _after this. …that is, if you still can even _blink._ ^^"; Half of this chapter is the epic dream I had one night when I was in Rochester for my brother's swim meet—the inspiration for this very fic. O.O And I must warn you now…it's really sad. T_T

But other than that, please enjoy what's here at the moment. ^~^ Oh, and for those of you who've been waiting for the next chapter of "I'm Sorry" or "Bet on It," I'm really sorry that I haven't been updating in a while now. ^_^"; It's been hectic since I started like three multi-chapters now, and I've decided to take them both on after I've finished "Change of Heart" (just so I don't mix anything up… ^^"). ...:sigh: I guess I really _should _have listened to **Silver **on this one… XD

Ah, well then. On with the story~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

**Disclaimer: **Again, I don't own Naruto. And I also do not own Changeling. The second half of this chapter is based on a particular scene from that movie (with some minor (?) adjustments by me for the sake of the story) and I'd just like to give another disclaimer on this one just in case. ^_^";

~o~

Meanwhile, in the home of Kyuubi, poor Sasuke was bound up and locked into the tyrant's walk-in closet (in his bedroom). His arms and legs were tied up with rope, his mouth was taped shut, and he was blindfolded.

~xXx~

Earlier that day, the masked man had dragged the raven into his home.

But somewhat fortunately, Norbert Kyuubi was still a bit drunk, and had been in no mood to torture anyone at that time, as he did feel a little dizzy.

So the tyrant had gone and bound the young Uchiha up in rope and locked him in his dark, dusty closet, promising that by the time of nightfall, he would return to give him a night he would _never _forget—unless he was lucky enough to have someone actually find him in there. _Damn _lucky. Then the masked man had left the room to take what should have been a short nap on the couch in his living room, but he eventually ended up sinking into a deep sleep.

~xXx~

A drop of sweat ran down the back of Sasuke's neck.

He hated this. A lot.

But because it meant helping his blonde friend, he didn't give much of a damn. Just as long as Naruto and the others weren't hurt. Just as long as they would be able somehow find the courage to get away.

Although he still feared for what was to come that night.

And how he missed his family at the same time. How he wished that somehow Itachi or even his father would come through that door and save him from this monster. But all that was too late now. He'd already hurt them by running away…and he wasn't even sure if he'd see them again.

At that moment, all chances of escape were gone for the Uchiha. Other than him being tied up and blindfolded, he'd also found out that the dagger Naruto had given him—the only thing he could've used to break the rope—had somehow fallen out of his pocket. But God knew where it was now. And he could only hope.

The raven sighed and leaned his head back. What would become of him?

~o~

The blonde sighed and thought to himself, considering the possible consequences or _risks _in what he was about to do…_again. _But then he felt a hand on his shoulder and raised his head up.

And he found Gaara, Neji, and Shikamaru standing behind him with smiles on their faces.

The blue-eyed boy stared back expressionlessly.

Then more children began appearing from behind them.

Naruto's eyes widened.

Suddenly, another boy with short raven hair emerged from the group and walked up to the blonde with a solemn countenance. Then he extended his hand out to the latter and managed to break a slight smile on his face.

The kind of smile he'd said he often found in picture books.

"Sai…" the blue-eyed boy managed to speak.

At that moment, the short-haired raven took Naruto's hand and looked into his cerulean eyes intently. Then he spoke again. "Hm. As I read before in another book…'all for one and one for all'."

~o~

Night had now fallen.

Even though the Uchiha was blindfolded, he could still see how much darker the closet had gotten—which meant that Kyuubi was about to come in at any second.

But for the first time, Sasuke was dead wrong.

At that moment, the tyrant was still sound asleep on his couch—no—_passed out_.

_Literally. _Hey—he was already drooling, for goodness sake. But that didn't mean he couldn't somehow wake up from out of the blue—he _was _Norbert Kyuubi, after all.

That was a risk Naruto was willing to take. He raised his head up to see that every single one of Kyuubi's house lights was off. But in fact, Sleeping Beauty there never even took the time to actually wake up to turn them on that night.

The blonde paused, then turned in the direction of the bushes, where the rest of the children had run off to escape. They were all waiting on the other side of the fence at that moment, for Naruto had decided to take the risk alone—not wishing to let anyone other than himself get hurt this time.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Shikamaru and Neji with serious looks on their faces.

"You sure you'll be fine by yourself, Naruto?" the spiky-haired brunette asked.

The blonde paused, then turned in the direction of Norbert Kyuubi's house. "Yeah."

Both paused and looked at each other with hesitant looks. Then Neji spoke. "Suit yourself." He turned to join the others. "But make sure you both get out of there in one piece."

The blue-eyed boy chuckled once, then extended his right arm, thumb up. "Believe it."

The other two chuckled as well, then lightly shoved Naruto forward.

"Whatever. Just don't do anything that might make things too troublesome," Shikamaru spoke in a laid-back but serious tone. Then the two ran off into the bushes.

The blonde smirked, then turned to face the tyrant's house with an intent gaze.

"Huh. See you in a while, Sasuke."

~o~

It was silent in Kyuubi's house. …_too _silent.

As Naruto crept cautiously through the back door, he looked around warily, making sure that this time he wouldn't be caught off guard.

That was when he turned around to see the masked man himself, which scared the blonde half out of his mind at first. But then he looked closer to see that the fool was still asleep and curled up on his couch—sucking his thumb like a complete fool. And from looking at how the man sucked that thumb, it disgusted the blonde. But just as long as he wasn't awake—the blonde needed all the time he could get. God knew when this man was gonna wake up.

Naruto sighed softly, then quickly tiptoed up the steps into the tyrant's room. He walked inside and looked around the room.

But to the blonde's surprise, he found nothing—even when the moon had decided to shed a bit more light at that time. All he found was emptiness and darkness, except for the man's bed, of course.

And rope.

…and beer bottles.

The usual stuff—yet no sign of his raven-haired friend.

Suddenly, something caught his eye.

The blue-eyed boy stiffened, then walked over to where he saw a shiny blue object on the floor.

And he froze when he saw two turtledoves of ivory shining under the moonlight.

Without a doubt, it was his dagger—the one he had slipped into the raven's pocket the night before he himself was taken into the clutches of that madman and tortured.

At first, his chest tightened, becoming even more worried for his obsidian-eyed friend as he thought of what the man could have possibly done to him.

That was when he noticed a door in front of him.

~o~

The Uchiha groaned, beads of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. It was past nightfall now, and he was already having trouble breathing through his nose at that point. The closet was dark and dusty after all, and of course the temperature was high.

To make things worse, Kyuubi would open that door any minute, and he would face his doom.

"Uh!" Sasuke uttered, wriggling his tied-up hands.

But it was no use. From there, it even seemed as if the knots on his hands and feet grew tighter the more the raven struggled.

The Uchiha sighed and hung his head in defeat.

Then he couldn't help but think of Naruto, who may have already escaped with the others.

How he'd miss those ocean blue eyes….that happy-go-lucky grin…that _stupid _laugh…and how he would be free this time. Free from that monster's clutches once and for all.

How he wished he could say the same for himself.

The raven leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

_Naruto…_

Suddenly, he heard the doorknob click and the door fly open.

Sasuke exhaled sharply. This was it.

…or so he thought.

He shrank back, bracing himself for what was to come. A kick to the stomach. A punch to his face. Anything.

But to his surprise, there was nothing of the sort. Almost immediately, he felt the rope being cut, the tape slowly being taken off, the blindfold being untied and pulled away.

And before the raven even knew it, he felt someone embrace him. At the same time, he felt a familiar, comforting warmth.

Then he heard a sigh of relief. "_Teme_."

At that moment, the Uchiha stiffened by the familiarity of the voice.

He opened his eyes to see Naruto himself, hugging the raven as tight as he could—as if he would disappear in thin air at any minute. The younger blonde's eyes were closed shut, and his bushy hair was soft under his chin. And for the first time in months, the boy's face was serene.

He had come back for him.

At that moment, the raven had a lot of questions to ask the blue-eyed boy. But now he was at a loss for words, his eyes softening. He slowly raised his arms to return the latter's embrace.

~o~

For a moment, the two wished that they could stay like this forever, where it was calm and no one was there to bother them. But then Naruto instantly remembered the very reason he had come, and why the two of them had to leave as soon as possible.

The blonde slowly pulled away and looked into the Uchiha's obsidian eyes. "We have to go. Hurry—before Kyuubi—"

Suddenly, they heard banging footsteps from the stairwell.

"_Don't worry, little Sasu! Uncle Kyuubi's coming!"_

Waves of raucous laughter could be heard, which made the two boys stiffen in an instant.

Immediately, Naruto pulled Sasuke over to the window with fear in his eyes. "We need to get out of here now!" At that moment, the blonde quickly climbed out of the window and extended his hand out to the raven. "Come on!"

Without a word, the Uchiha took the latter's hand and began climbing out the window.

But at the same time, the bedroom door flew open, and Norbert Kyuubi stood there with a cruel smirk on his face—no longer sick with alcohol.

Of course, his countenance instantly changed when he saw Naruto helping Sasuke escape through his bedroom window.

The masked man's face flushed red with rage. "HEY!"

But the two had already escaped and began to sprint as fast as they could towards the bushes, where the rest of the children were waiting on the other side of the fence.

At that moment, the tyrant cursed under his breath and growled when he saw the blonde's messy hair standing out in the moonlight. He snarled and instantly rushed out of his house in pursuit.

"You little shits! Get your asses back over here!" he roared in a loud voice.

Naruto gasped and quickly glanced back to see Kyuubi sprinting behind them. And _damn, _he was definitely pissed off.

The blonde turned and tugged on the Uchiha's arm. "Come on, teme! He's gaining on us!"

At that moment, the masked man let out another roar.

Quickly, the two boys jumped into the bushes and rushed over to the escape route, where they saw the other children waiting anxiously on the other side.

"Hurry!" Shikamaru whispered in a cautious tone.

Immediately, Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and nodded once, beginning to crawl through the large aperture.

And they would have made it out in just moments, when suddenly, they heard a small crash from above that made them freeze in their tracks.

In an instant, they looked up and saw that the messed up clump of wires above them were about to collapse, the wired fence not being able to hold the opening much longer. This made them back away immediately.

"Come on!" a boy whispered from the other side of the fence, extending his arm out to the boys.

But before either of them could continue or even reach out to take the boy's hand, the clump of wires had already fallen, sealing the escape route.

At that moment, the children panicked for Naruto and Sasuke.

And suddenly, they heard Kyuubi yell out yet again.

"KIDDIES!"

"Shoot," the Uchiha muttered under his breath, his eyes filled with anxiety.

But he did not look as afraid as the blonde did, for at that moment, he was literally shaking in fear.

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked the raven, his cerulean eyes wide open.

And for every minute that passed, Kyuubi's cackling grew louder and louder.

Until finally, Sasuke thought of something, and immediately grabbed the blonde's hand, sprinting towards another section of the fence.

The very first place where Naruto had planned to escape from—now resealed by Norbert Kyuubi.

They stopped abruptly in front of the area, and the Uchiha whipped his head up to look at the resealed opening.

"Shoot," he muttered under his breath. Then his eyes darted in different directions, searching for a weak spot to tear through.

But then he felt Naruto stiffen behind him, his eyes widening even more out of disbelief.

"Sasuke…this is…"

But before he could finish his sentence, the raven was already facing the latter with a reassuring smile on his face.

"_Trust me._"

And gradually, the blonde's anxiety began to melt away as he looked into the Uchiha's intent but comforting obsidian eyes.

Sasuke waited patiently for a response.

Then finally, Naruto's eyes softened, and he smiled at the raven.

The Uchiha paused and nodded once with a confident look on his face. "Hn." Then he turned around and after a few seconds, found a weak spot at the very bottom of the fence where the wires were still loose.

The raven paused, then began to try taking the loose wires apart.

But unfortunately, they still wouldn't budge and couldn't be torn apart by hand.

That was when he saw the blonde take something out of his pocket.

At that moment, Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw two familiar turtle doves dancing on a hilt of light blue…

The dagger that the latter said he would use to help change people's hearts.

"Take it," Naruto spoke in an unwavering tone.

The raven froze and looked up, only to see that the latter's eyes were intent.

And without another moment of hesitation, he took the dagger from the blonde's hand and began to quickly cut through the wires of the fence until finally he was able to make a small aperture that could fit at least one small child at a time.

But each of them had to crouch down as close to the ground as they possibly could, and squeeze through the small opening.

He paused for a moment.

Then suddenly, Kyuubi let out a roar of raucous laughter—just a few more feet away from the raven and blonde. "It's useless, kiddies!" He sighed, then glared at the two boys, his coal-black eyes gleaming dangerously from behind his scarlet-red bandanna. "You're _mine._"

Immediately, Naruto turned to face Sasuke and tugged him towards the fence. "Come on!"

Without hesitation, the blonde quickly squeezed through the escape route with the Uchiha trailing behind him and climbed out to the other side of the fence, beginning to sprint as fast as he could into the forest.

And the raven was just about to do the same, but for some reason, he couldn't move his left foot to take the final step and fell flat on his face.

Sasuke cried out in pain, then looked back when he felt metal cutting into his leg.

That was when he saw his foot tangled in the wires of the fence.

The Uchiha gasped and peered behind him to see the tyrant getting closer and closer.

At that moment, he whipped his head back to look after the blonde running into the darkness and cried out in a loud voice.

"Help me!"

And in an instant, Naruto stopped right in his tracks, and slowly turned around to face the trapped raven.

At that moment, the blonde's mind clouded up again. This scene again… Then, he began to hear Hinata's cries ringing in his ears again.

"_Naruto! Help me!"_

And then, for a moment, he saw the orange flames in his mind.

"_Naruto!"_

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried out.

At that moment, the blonde snapped back into reality and looked at the raven with a rigid expression on his face.

"Dobe!" the Uchiha shouted, extending his hand out to the latter. "Please…"

But Naruto wouldn't budge.

When suddenly…

"HEY!" Norbert Kyuubi yelled out in a loud voice.

And in an instant, the blonde sprinted over to the raven's side, frantically untangling his foot from the metal wires and glancing at the encroaching tyrant every few seconds.

_Not this time._

But unfortunately, the Uchiha's foot only became even more entangled.

"No!" Naruto growled, hanging his head in frustration.

"Dobe…" Sasuke muttered softly when he looked into the latter's eyes, now filled with fear and sorrow. He reached a hand out and calmly placed it on the blonde's.

The latter let out a sob and held the raven's hand close. He looked into his eyes, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks.

"Damn it," the blonde sniffled. "_Damn it, _I don't wanna lose _you, _too!" He growled and squeezed the Uchiha's hand.

Sasuke's eyes softened.

But then he remembered he still had the dagger under his other hand.

The raven paused, then picked it up and calmly placed it into Naruto's hand. "This belongs to you."

The latter's eyes widened. Then he looked up into the Uchiha's obsidian eyes, now intent. He nodded once.

"Hn."

The blonde nodded back, his eyes becoming intent as well. He turned, and quickly tore through the wires with the dagger, finally setting Sasuke's foot free.

In an instant, he grabbed the raven's hand and began sprinting as fast as he could towards the other children who were already making their way into the forest.

"Let's go!" the blonde shouted.

They ran as fast as possible, to get far, _far_ away from the monster.

But Norbert Kyuubi wasn't a quitter.

At that moment, he took that time to pull Mr. Bullet Bill out of his pocket and began firing wildly at the two boys.

And immediately, they ducked, sprinting even faster.

The tyrant let out a roar. "You won't get away from Norbert Kyuubi, twerps!"

More gunshots could be heard from behind.

But after a while, it became silent. …_too _silent.

Naruto paused, then glanced back to see what was going on.

And his face became rigid when he saw the monster standing there.

Specifically aiming his gun towards Sasuke.

At that same time, a twisted grin appeared behind the fool's blood-red bandanna.

The blonde gasped.

But before either of the two could even think, the trigger had already been pulled.

_BANG._

Immediately, Sasuke Uchiha froze in his tracks.

~o~

At that moment, a blood-curdling cry filled the air.

Even some of the children had stopped in front of the forest with wide eyes.

And finally, the raven whipped his head back to see what had happened.

There the blonde lay, crumpled on the ground. He was clutching his side again—the same side as before—and a crimson red puddle began forming below him.

At that moment, Sasuke froze.

…his _dream_…the nightmare he kept having every night…

Without hesitation, the Uchiha sprinted towards the fallen latter, his eyes wide with horror.

"Dobe!"

He rushed over and knelt down next to the latter, placing his head on his lap.

The blonde groaned in pain and stirred a little.

The puddle continued to grow.

"Naruto…" the raven spoke softly.

Suddenly, Kyuubi let out a roar of laughter.

At that moment, Sasuke glared at the tyrant, his eyes now filled with nothing but hate.

But then Naruto coughed violently.

The Uchiha stiffened, then turned around to face the latter, his eyes softening. "Dobe…"

"Go," the blonde cut him off, trying to push the raven away.

Sasuke couldn't believe it. "Naruto, what the heck?"

"Leave me here," the blue-eyed boy croaked. "Go join the others. Go…go find your family."

The raven's face became rigid when he'd heard the comment.

But then he felt an object being placed in his hand, and he looked down to see the light blue dagger. The Uchiha shifted his eyes towards the blonde.

Naruto smiled. "I…don't want us to be even."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

The blue-eyed boy gave another violent cough, then composed himself, lightly squeezing the raven's hand. "You're more than a friend to me now. I knew that…from the very moment I met you."

The Uchiha's eyes softened.

Naruto went on. "I promised my dad…that I'd change the world." He coughed again, then smiled grimly. "But I don't think…I'll be able to—"

"No!" the raven cut in. "Don't you dare talk like that, dobe…"

The blonde sighed, then looked into the latter's obsidian eyes.

And Sasuke almost shrank back when he saw that the boy was smiling his happy-go-lucky grin.

But this time…his eyes were dull.

Then Naruto gave the Uchiha's hand another squeeze. "You told me once…that you thought the Sun was unfair. How it only shone…in certain places, but not in others, and it made some people unhappy." He coughed violently. "But then you told me…that…you wanted to change it all. That you wanted to make everything fair in this world again."

The raven stiffened.

Suddenly, the blonde cried out and clutched his side again, his face contorting in severe pain.

"Dobe…" Sasuke spoke a bit louder, his eyes tightening as he saw the poor latter writhe.

But still Naruto struggled to compose himself, and slightly tightened his grip on the dagger in the raven's hand. He spoke again.

"Take…take this. It'll help you someday. That's why…I gave it to you in the first place," the broken blonde croaked. "I...can handle Kyuubi by myself. I'll hold him off as much as you all need."

"Naruto…" the raven spoke painfully.

"Just go," the latter cut in.

But Sasuke wouldn't move an inch.

That was when the blonde turned to stare into the Uchiha's face.

And the raven stiffened when he saw the latter's ocean-blue eyes sparkle weakly under the moonlight. A broken smile appeared on his whiskered face.

Naruto spoke again, in a comforting tone. "I'm glad…that I met you, Sasuke Uchiha. I believe…that you'll be able to change the world because your heart is strong. And I know…that someday we'll see each other again if—"

At this point, Sasuke's heart hurt, and he placed the dagger back in the blonde's hand.

"No…" the Uchiha managed to speak. "You need it a lot more than I do." He paused, his eyes tightening. "I'll change the world, Naruto, for your sake. But I won't take this." He broke off, looking away from the blonde.

The latter's eyes softened.

Then finally, the raven spoke again, hurt in his tone. "But please…can you promise that I'll see you again someday…_alive?_"

Naruto was silent for a moment. "Yeah."

Sasuke looked at the blonde.

The blue-eyed boy smiled. "You'll see me again."

Suddenly, the raven felt a hand on each of his shoulders and turned around to see that Gaara and Neji had come back.

"Come on, Uchiha," the Hyuga spoke, hurt in his eyes as well. "We have to go."

But Sasuke still couldn't budge. He couldn't leave Naruto behind...

"No…" the raven muttered, slowly shaking his head.

"Goodbye, teme," Naruto spoke weakly.

At that moment, the two began pulling Sasuke away.

"No!" the Uchiha cried out, his heart filled with hurt.

But at that point, the blonde could only stare back at the raven with a sad countenance,

The raven growled in frustration and struggled to break free.

But Gaara and Neji wouldn't let go. Even though they were as hurt as Sasuke, they still couldn't because the blonde wouldn't have wanted it...

The Uchiha cried out in emotional pain and stared after the broken blonde as he gradually disappeared from sight beyond the branches of the trees.

"NARUTO!"

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

This is not the end. But the end is NEAR. O.O Stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone.

And sorry for the OOC in this. n.n" This one was big, and I tried really hard to make sure everyone wasn't _too _out-of-character… ^^"

Ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.


	16. Chapter 16: A Promise

_**Chapter 16: A Promise**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

At this point, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions…

Were the children able to escape? What happened to them?

…or more importantly…

_What became of Naruto and…is he alive?_ TT_TT

The end is near…all will be answered—in due time_. _-.-"

Enjoy. ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

~o~

It was silent in the forest that night when the children walked through the forest.

Since the moment all of them had entered, no one had spoken even a word.

And everyone's hearts at that time were filled with nothing but sadness for…_him._

Even Sasuke had managed to calm himself down after that—although his heart still hurt like _hell._

_Naruto… _the raven thought softly to himself. He closed his eyes, the blonde's laughter ringing through his ears.

The stars in the night sky were bright but also very dull at that moment. But they were the only things the children could use at the time to find their way through the dark forest, no map or lantern in hand,

After a few more hours, when the children felt they were deep enough in the forest to be safe from the monster Kyuubi, they decided to take a short break and lay down in the tall grass. However, what should have been a brief rest turned out be a deep sleep. But you couldn't blame the children, especially after seeing how exhausted they were.

Only Sasuke was able to stay awake at that moment, or at least half-asleep, as he still couldn't keep his blonde friend out of his mind.

And after a while, when the Uchiha was finally about to fall asleep, he thought he saw a bright white light in the distance—from a _flashlight._

This made the raven stiffen, his eyes wide open.

_Shoot, _he thought to himself, as a shadow appeared in the light.

Had Kyuubi really gone as far as to track them all down?

Sasuke gulped and slowly got up to follow the white light. He cautiously crept behind every bush, never taking his eyes once off the silhouette before him,

_You monster…_ The raven clenched his fists.

But as the Uchiha got closer and closer, the shadow surprisingly began to diminish into a different figure but…familiar to Sasuke.

So familiar…that he couldn't believe it.

The raven held his breath for a moment, hiding behind a nearby bush. Then he carefully peered through the leaves…and saw that it was none other than his older brother, Itachi Uchiha.

And it looked as if he were searching for something…or _someone._

"Sasuke!" Itachi called out, waving his flashlight in different directions. "Where are you, little brother?"

This made the raven stiffen behind the bushes.

Itachi Uchiha. Looking for _him_. His older brother…who might have actually been worried about him all this time…

"Sasuke!" the older raven called again.

_Go, _a voice from within spoke.

The young raven stiffened. Then the voice spoke again.

_Do him a favor already and let him find you, for God's sake. He loves you, damn it—haven't you already found that out by now?_

But then the younger Uchiha found the voice familiar and turned around to see a smiling bushy-haired blonde boy next to him, his ocean-blue eyes twinkling under the moonlight.

Sasuke's eyes immediately widened, and he gasped. "Dobe?"

But when he blinked, the blonde had disappeared out of thin air.

The raven winced and he hung his head.

Until he heard his older brother call his name again.

Sasuke sighed and slowly raised his head. He closed his eyes, then ran out of the bushes headlong towards Itachi.

"Sasu—" the older Uchiha immediately broke off when he felt someone embrace him.

And he looked down behind him to see a familiar young raven hugging him with his eyes closed.

Itachi's eyes widened. "Sasuke?" he asked in a calm voice, lowering himself to face the latter.

But the younger Uchiha only responded with a tighter embrace and pressed his face against his brother's chest, tears managing to sneak their way down his pale cheeks.

The first time he'd cried since he was a baby. But he couldn't help it this time. After what had happened to him…

"Brother…" Sasuke managed to speak in a soft tone.

At that moment, Itachi's eyes softened, and he began to wrap his arms around his little brother comfortingly with a smile on his face. "Shh…it's okay. Everything's all right now."

Then the older Uchiha slowly raised his head to look back to where Sasuke could see more people with flashlights along with red and blue blinking lights that made it all look like an arcade.

"Mother! Father! I found Sasuke!" Itachi called.

In an instant, the crowd in the distance stirred, and Mikoto Uchiha could be seen sprinting towards her two sons, flashlight in hand.

And before Sasuke knew it, she was already choking him in a bear hug.

"Mother…" the young raven managed to mumble under his breath.

Mikoto let out a sigh. "Oh, Sasuke…" She pulled back to look into her youngest son's eyes. "Why did you run away from us?"

But the young Uchiha couldn't answer.

She stroked the latter's hair back, her eyes softening. "Where have you been all this time? We've been looking for you for ages now. Hasn't it already occurred to you how worried sick your father and I have been?"

At that moment, Sasuke froze. His _father?_

Mikoto let out another sigh and embraced her youngest son. "Oh, Sasuke…I've missed you so much…"

The young raven's eyes softened. But suddenly they became rigid when he saw a tall man a few feet behind his mother.

His father.

But as Sasuke looked closer at the brown-haired man, he could see that his eyes were closed, his head was hanging, and his fists were stuffed into his pockets.

_Father… _the small Uchiha thought. But then his eyes widened when he saw that his father's cheeks were tear-stained. His gaze softened.

_~xXx~_

"_Do you think of your father as well?"_

_"Hn. He wasn't exactly…the typical loving father you'd expect."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Well…to start things off—he'd always punish me severely…for even the smallest mistake I'd make. From when I'd accidentally spill milk on the floor…to playing the wrong key on the piano. And I don't mean the usual scolding or any mild chastisement either. It's not like how Kyuubi treats you all here, beating all of you half to death. Just…cold-hearted. If…if I actually __tried—__and did do something right for a change… He wouldn't even bother to acknowledge me for it. Always favored my older brother. Always 'why can't you be more like him?' Not a single 'good job' or 'keep up the good work. So you could say he didn't really care about how I felt—just how I'd benefit the prestigious family of Uchiha." _

~xXx~

Sasuke's eyes softened as he saw a teardrop fall down onto a blade of grass on the ground. And he could hear Naruto's words ringing through his ears.

"_That's not true."_

The younger Uchiha closed his eyes.

_"It's impossible. There's no such thing as a father who doesn't love his own kid."_

_"Sure—I understand how you feel when he might neglect you or punish you for your mistakes in life, but…instead of thinking your father hates you…"_

_"Don't you ever think he might actually be saying…he loves you?"_

~xXx~

The blonde had scratched his head. _"I know I'm not from your family or anything, but…"_

_"Then what makes you say that? How would __you __understand?"_

_"Come on, teme—just think outside the box for a minute."_

He was silent for a moment.

~xXx~

The raven slowly opened his eyes, and was surprised to see Fugaku's eyes wide open and pleading…for the first time.

"Sasuke…" the brown-haired man spoke in a soft tone.

The younger Uchiha's eyes widened.

_"Every time you think your father shows malice when he punishes you…don't you ever wonder how he really feels? Every time you think he hates you for every slap in the face you get, don't you ever realize…that he might just be doing that to stop you from making the same mistake in the future? That it might just be…his own special way of expressing how much he actually cares for you?"_

The raven held his breath.

"I…" Fugaku spoke again.

_"And when you think he's ignoring you, don't you ever think he's just…encouraging you to surpass your brother? Or maybe waiting for you to at least thank him—and love him back?"_

"I'm so sorry…" the brown-haired man spoke again, shoulders heaving.

_"I mean…how many times have you ever told your father you love him?"_

The young Uchiha stiffened as he saw his father begin to turn away. "Wait!"

In an instant, he felt himself sprint over to him and wrap his arms around his waist. "Father.."

Fugaku froze, but didn't look back.

Sasuke paused for a moment, searching for the right words to say.

"_I'm _sorry," the raven managed to speak in a soft tone, burying his face in his father's shirt. "I didn't mean to run away like that. I didn't mean to make you and Mother worry…"

But before Sasuke could even continue, he already found himself in a warm embrace.

Fugaku rested his chin on his son's head and held him close. "Oh, Sasuke…"

He paused, then sighed. "_I'm _the one whoshould be sorry, not you. It's my fault you ran away in the first place. I was wrong to have neglected to give you my attention." He looked down at the young Uchiha. "I was blind. Instead of pushing you so much and paying more attention to your older brother all this time, I should have taken the time to understand your feelings more…to recognize _your _needs so that none of this would have ever happened…" He closed his eyes and turned away. "I mean, what kind of father hits his own son in the face? I…I thought we'd lost you…" Fugaku shook his head slowly, putting his hand to his forehead.

But then Sasuke spoke again in a quiet tone. "No, Father. I should be sorry, too. Before, I was blind to see your intentions towards me. I didn't understand you, either…but I only made things worse by running away." He slightly tightened his embrace.

Fugaku paused, then turned to look at his youngest son with a surprised look on his face. "Sasuke…"

At that moment, the small raven found the right words to say. "Father…I love you."

The brown-haired Uchiha froze at the sudden comment. "Sasuke…"

His eyes softened, and Fugaku held his son close. "You didn't have to say that because I know I'll always love you without question. You're _my_ son after all—that's all that matters."

Sasuke's eyes softened and he buried his face in his father's chest.

~o~

The rest of the children were found moments later with Sasuke's help, and they had still been sleeping in the tall grass.

But when their parents had arrived, calling their names, they immediately got up and sprinted towards them.

The raven stood there as he saw each of the children reunite with his parents, enclosing them into a warm embrace.

And even this had touched the Uchiha deep down in his heart. The tears of joy coming down all of their faces…the 'thank you's he received as each family left to go home…

After a few moments, all of the children had reunited with their families and gone.

All of them…except for one. And how the raven wished it would have been the same for him.

Sasuke paused, then turned to face the darker end of the forest.

He winced and hung his head.

_Naruto…_

~o~

At that same time, in the darker, more distant parts of the forest, a bushy haired blonde could be seen crawling blindly around every tree.

But he was weak and severely injured. The boy's face was dirty and covered in bruises, and he was clutching his side, which was also bleeding.

"Uh…ah…" the blue-eyed boy uttered, struggling to stay conscious.

~xXx~

Earlier, he had chosen to be left behind outside that monster's ranch, bleeding and mortally wounded…

Kyuubi had finally caught up to him and cackled villainously.

"_I gotcha now, you little brat!"_

The blonde had glared back at the masked man, and held up his dagger to defend himself.

But all was futile, for the boy had been too hurt to even move an inch.

He had only gotten himself more hurt as the tyrant kicked him around, giving him more bruises.

The monster had literally _abused _him, until he could no longer move.

The latter groaned in pain, glancing back to see that all of the children had escaped. Then he turned to face the tyrant with a grim countenance.

But the masked man had laughed raucously in the blonde's face.

At the same time, the latter had known what was to come next.

Kyuubi had ripped the dagger from the boy's hand, claiming he was going to kill him with it. He took the small knife and unsheathed it, pointing it at the small blonde.

The boy closed his eyes as the masked man raised his hand to give the final blow…

But suddenly, he heard a cry and a thud.

The blonde opened his eyes, only to see that the tyrant had been toppled over by a white beast.

And his eyes widened when he saw that the creature looked oddly familiar, its head turning back to gaze into his cerulean eyes. It was what seemed to be a large fox…with scarlet-red eyes.

Kyuubi had cried out as he wrestled with the vicious animal, dropping the dagger in the process.

But the blue-eyed boy took no moment of hesitation, and crawled as fast as he could deep into the forest.

_Thank you, Kit._

~xXx~

At that point, the blonde had reached his limit, collapsing in a small clearing.

He cried out in pain as he hit the ground.

And at the same time…he couldn't help but think of his friends…of Hinata…of Choji…of Kiba…and most importantly…

_Sasuke… _the boy thought weakly to himself, closing his eyes, picturing the raven in his head.

But then he heard a rustle not far from him, which instantly woke the blonde up.

Naruto groaned as he looked around, for his vision was now becoming blurry.

He was about to lose consciousness at that point.

That was when he caught a glimpse of the tall silhouette of a man approaching him with a lantern in hand.

And at first, the blonde couldn't help but panic, struggling to get up again.

_Oh no…_

But the boy only ended up falling again, for his body was too weak.

At that moment, he could only stare dully at the shadowy figure approaching him, and he was waiting for what was to come.

When the man had stopped in front of the blonde, Naruto had already begun to lose consciousness.

But before the blonde had faded into darkness, he caught another glimpse of a light brown face with a long scar across where his nose was. And he had spiky brown hair…

"Hey, are you all right?" the man spoke in a worried tone.

But Naruto had already sunken deep into darkness.

~o~

A few days later after the Uchiha family had returned to their home, Sasuke had brought himself to explain to his father, the chief of the Konoha Police Force, what had happened to him and the other children in the past month.

How Kyuubi had brought them all to his ranch…the torture they had all gone through…the children he had killed…

…and Naruto, who the raven had claimed had been left behind when they had all escaped.

This made Fugaku pause for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes and hung his head.

"Minato's son, huh? I see…" He turned to walk away, but then stopped for a moment. "I'll see what I can do, Sasuke." Then he left the room.

The young Uchiha's eyes softened and he turned to look out the window, at the sinking sun out in the horizon.

That was when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Sasuke turned around to see his older brother with a solemn countenance on his face.

"His father used to be Father's best friend, too, you know—regardless of what he ever told you about him. They were once very close…"

The younger raven was silent.

Itachi frowned. "Was he…a friend of yours, little brother?"

The latter stiffened and paused. Then, he turned back to face the sunset and opened his mouth to speak.

"No."

The older Uchiha began to raise an eyebrow in confusion. But then Sasuke went on in a dull but soft tone.

"He was the biggest dobe you could have ever seen, Itachi."

The older raven stared back expressionlessly.

"…but he was more than just a friend to me."

~o~

The next few days, Sasuke had led Fugaku and his men back to where Kyuubi's ranch had been. And they had looked everywhere for a masked man and a bushy haired blonde.

But for some reason…it was no longer inhabited. Both the shack and the house had been empty.

Days later, Fugaku's troops had returned with a report that Kyuubi had disappeared without a trace and that there had been no sign of Sasuke's blonde friend.

This disappointed the young raven, sadness filling his heart.

Where had they both gone?

~o~

The next morning, another one of Fugaku's police troops had walked up to the Uchiha family's doorstep, asking for Sasuke Uchiha specifically. And the young raven had stepped out from behind his older brother's back with a stoic but somewhat sheepish look on his face.

The police troop had looked at Sasuke for a long moment, then slowly approached him.

And the raven almost shrank back when he held out a small, sheathed dagger with two turtledoves of ivory dancing at its sky blue hilt.

The young Uchiha's eyes widened. The same one that _he _had wanted him to take before…

The troop had had a solemn expression on his face as he carefully placed the light blue object in the raven's hand.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't find your friend," he had told Sasuke in a calm voice. "…but this was all we could find. We thought you might want to keep it."

The raven's eyes softened as he held the dagger in his hand, and he felt himself drop down to his knees, not taking his eyes off the object even once.

~o~

Time passed, and the Konoha Police Force had finally given up searching for Norbert Kyuubi and Naruto Uzumaki. Eventually, they had gone home empty-handed, leaving the case unsolved.

At the same time, Sasuke and his family had decided to move away from the countryside. Fugaku had gotten a better job in what is now Los Angeles, California, still keeping his position as a police chief. He had wanted his family to start life anew away from Konoha, and take that time to reconnect with his two sons.

And the younger raven had had no choice but to agree to his father's wishes, not wanting to encounter another monster like Norbert Kyuubi.

But he never let go of the memories he'd had in Konoha, and he never stopped looking for his blonde friend.

~o~

_(Eleven Years Later…)_

The date is July 21, 1933 and the story now focuses on what is now the city of Los Angeles, California.

Because it is late afternoon, the city is somewhat tranquil… But hey—it's 1933.

And we turn to look into a tall building with many windows. At the front of the building, this can also be read in big letters:

**LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.**

At the top floor of the building in the room on the farthest left of the hallway, a tall raven can be seen staring aimlessly out the window.

And yes—it is the very same raven that had once lived on the countryside of Konoha with his parents and older brother. The one who had run away eleven years ago.

But to this day, he is older and a lot different from how he had been in his childhood past.

This afternoon, we see a 22-year-old Sasuke Uchiha looking out into the horizon.

Sasuke Uchiha—the assistant police chief of the LAPD, second in rank to his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. But this was only due to the fact that he was still in training.

And in those same eleven years of studying and hard work, we also recognize that Sasuke has helped solve over 150 cases to boot, and ruthlessly sent over 220 criminals to jail in cold blood. At this rate, one could even say that he would turn out to be a very successful police chief like his father and brother.

But even though he had helped solved so many cases in the past eleven years, he had still been yet to solve one in particular—one that had been left unsolved for exactly eleven years.

It was none other than the case of Norbert Kyuubi—a villainous farmer of Konoha who had kidnapped about twenty children and had been held responsible for the murders of four. Out of fear, he had run away from the countryside after the children had somehow escaped from his grasp, and since that day, he had never been seen again.

At the same time, another boy had also been deemed missing—a short, bushy-haired blonde by the name of Naruto Uzumaki, who had been 10 years old at the time. And Norbert Kyuubi had also been responsible for his disappearance, as well as the murder of his parents three years before. But like the masked tyrant himself, the boy had also been missing for eleven years, and it was still unknown if he was dead or alive.

All that had been found was a small dagger with two turtledoves of ivory dancing at its light blue hilt. And this piece of evidence had been kept in the hands of Sasuke Uchiha himself, who swore one day that he would solve the case once and for all.

At that very moment, the raven was standing by the windowsill of his office, holding the dagger in his hand, and absent-mindedly looked out at the sunset that his best friend had enjoyed so much before.

And he winced as he remembered that one afternoon when the blonde had told him the dream he had wanted to accomplish one day…the same dream that he had entrusted to Sasuke, who had decided on his own to work under the occupation he was presently in just so he could fulfill that dream.

Under the unstable promise that one day he would see his dobe again…

But that had been long, long ago.

And although everyone else had given up on this one case, Sasuke relentlessly continued it without hesitation: 1. To capture that monster once and for all and 2. To find his blonde friend, who may still be alive.

The raven slightly tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand.

_I will find you. No matter what it takes. I promise._

~o~

Days had passed, and the only people who had been left to work with the case of Norbert Kyuubi were none other than Sasuke Uchiha and his subordinates.

But even with these experts at work on this case, Kyuubi and Naruto Uzumaki had not been found.

Sasuke exhaled sharply, shuffling stacks of paper on his desk and taking a sip of his coffee. He glanced at every photo he could find and skimmed through every profile. And then he shifted his eyes towards the sky blue dagger that sat at the edge of his desk.

The raven sighed. _Where the hell are you, dobe?_

He paused for a moment, then went back to shuffling the files on his desk.

But suddenly, there was a knock on his door.

Sasuke paused. "Come in."

The doorknob turned, and a spectacled woman with long, fuchsia-colored hair walked in up to the raven's desk.

"Sasuke," the woman spoke in a firm tone.

"Hn," the raven muttered. "What is your business here, Karin?"

Karin hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. "It's Itachi. He's asking you to leave the case alone. He's worried about your well-being and thinks you're getting too personal with it."

But the Uchiha merely continued to examine the papers, not looking up even once. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

The spectacled woman slammed her hands on the desk in front of her. "But you've been on this case for almost a year now! Why can't you let it go already! It's not like one case will hurt your record!"

No response.

Karin growled. "And I don't even see why this case is so important to you. I mean, it's about some kid who's gone missing, for God's sake! What the hell does this matter to you, Sasuke!"

It was silent in the room for a moment.

Then Sasuke put down his stack of papers and closed his eyes. "It's not just that, Karin. It's also about the man who kidnapped many children and tortured them in his own ranch. …myself included." He paused for a second. "I want to make sure that he pays for all that he's done, if not more. I want him to feel the pain that he put us _all _through. …and there's a personal business that I need to consult with him."

The spectacled fuchsia was silent for a moment. "All right then. I get your point here. …but what about the kid?"

The raven paused for a minute, then got up from his chair to look out the window.

"That boy…was one of the first ones that monster had taken to that ranch. Yet he saved my life—in ways that not even you could imagine."

Karin stared at the Uchiha.

Sasuke hung his head. "Without him, I wouldn't even be here to this day."

The fuchsia-haired woman stiffened. Then her eyes softened. "So…was he your friend or something?"

This made the raven chuckle, then clear his throat. "Hn. All I can say was that he was the biggest dobe you could have ever seen. …but yes—he was my friend…if not more."

Karin only stared back at the Uchiha with concern in her eyes.

~o~

Weeks had now passed, and still no sign of Naruto and Kyuubi.

Sasuke sighed, and looked up at the ceiling as he lay down in his apartment room at about 7:30 in the morning.

And he could hear the blonde's laughter ringing through his ears.

"_Teme."_

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound filled the room, and the raven immediately sat up to see that it was the phone.

The Uchiha yawned and rubbed his eyes, then walked over to pick the phone up.

"Hello," he spoke into the receiver.

But then something made him stop and hold his breath.

It was Sakura on the other line, and she was calling from the California State Prison. And from what the pink-haired girl was now telling the raven at that moment made him stiffen.

It appeared that Norbert Kyuubi had finally been found and captured. The police had found him not far from Los Angeles under the alias of Gordon Northcott, disguised as a bartender at a nearby club. At the moment he was found, he had been holding up a brown-haired teenage girl for her money. But all that was foiled when the police finally captured him and immediately brought him to California State Prison.

Concerned for the well-being of his younger brother, Itachi Uchiha instead had attended Kyuubi's trial, where a decision had been made that the man would be put to death by hanging on August 18, 1933 in public view.

But until that day had come, the LAPD and LASD (Los Angeles Sheriff's Department) had put together an interrogation force to deal with Norbert Kyuubi himself in the hopes of forcing information out of him on the whereabouts of Naruto Uzumaki.

Unfortunately, the man would not speak a word, even in the midst of death itself and under the interrogation of expert Ibiki Morino.

However, Kyuubi did agree to this. If Sasuke Uchiha would arrive in the interrogation room on August 17th, the very day before he would be hanged, he may or may not give out a few hints of information.

But Sasuke had to come alone—this was the message that Sakura had informed him about on the phone.

The raven's face tightened, and he clenched his fists. That day, that monster would finally get what he deserved.

~o~

Time passed, and it was now the morning of August 17th.

Sasuke sighed as he stood outside the California State Prison.

And at the same time, he heard Naruto's laughter ringing through his ears again.

…as well as the final words that Kiba Inuzuka had spoken to him the night he was murdered.

He had walked gallantly past the rest of the children, but stopped for a moment to whisper something in the raven's ear.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he remembered the brunette's request clearly in his mind.

"_It's all up to you now. Take care of him for me."_

The Uchiha paused and hung his head.

…_I will. Don't worry about a thing._

Then he opened his eyes, and entered the California State Prison.

~o~

As the raven walked through the halls of the prison, he couldn't help but look around at the other convicts being held in their cells.

And most of them had given the Uchiha death glares, especially the ones who had been sent there in the first place because of him.

But that didn't matter to Sasuke now.

After a while, he finally met up with Sakura, who led him door of the interrogation room. And soon, Ibiki Morino had emerged from the doorway with a stoic expression on his face.

"We've done everything to get this man to talk, but his lips are still tight. Hopefully you can get him to say a few words," Ibiki spoke in a firm tone. Then he glanced back at the interrogation room. "He's waiting for you in there. And don't worry—he's already too chained up to even lay a finger on you. But do as you please—just not anything too reckless."

Sasuke nodded once, and walked into the room.

"Be careful," Sakura spoke softly.

Then the door closed shut, a guard standing in front of it.

~o~

The raven had walked in to see two guards standing at either shadowy corner of the room. But it was too dark for their faces to be seen.

All that Sasuke could see now…was Norbert Kyuubi himself—sitting patiently behind a metal desk, his body chained to a chair and his bandanna taken off.

Now the Uchiha could see the cruel, twisted grin that the monster had been hiding behind that bandanna all along…and it enraged Sasuke on the inside, his eyes burning like the flames of Amaterasu.

But still—he composed himself, approaching the tyrant who tortured him years ago.

Kyuubi chuckled darkly. "Well, then. If it isn't little Uchiha, here to visit me when I'm in jail."

But the raven didn't respond, and only stared back at the man with a stoic expression on his face.

Kyuubi chuckled again, a mocking grin appearing on his face. "I just wonder…"

"Why did you call me here?" Sasuke cut in with a firm tone.

The man was silent. But he still held that _stupid _grin…

"I don't know. Why did you bother coming?"

The raven exhaled sharply. He was in no mood to be putting up with this crap. He looked into the man's eyes, his own burning even more intently.

Kyuubi laughed sardonically.

Sasuke paused, then spoke icily. "Where. Is. Naruto?"

But the man only continued to laugh in the raven's face. "Like _hell _I'm gonna tell you."

The Uchiha frowned. "I'll ask you again. Where is Naruto Uzumaki?"

More waves of laughter arose from the masked man. "Not on your life, Uchiha."

The raven became irritated by this. But a slight smile appeared on his face at that moment.

"Very well then. I'll just have to _make _you talk."

At that moment, Sasuke quickly held the tyrant up by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall, his hand around his neck.

And even so, Kyuubi was still laughing.

This time, the raven's glare was icy. "What did you with my friend, you son of a bitch?"

No response.

Sasuke banged the tyrant's head against the wall, his hands beginning to tighten around his neck.

And still—Kyuubi wouldn't stop laughing.

The Uchiha growled. "Tell me where Naruto Uzumaki is, you asshole."

But Kyuubi wouldn't talk—no matter how many times Sasuke threw him against the wall, banging his head on every metal surface.

Finally, the raven slammed the man's head against the hard metal table in the middle of the room, and he lowered his head down near the tyrant's ear.

He exhaled sharply, then whispered coldly. "If you're not even gonna bother to tell me anything, then why…why did you fuckin' tell me to come here, huh?" He banged the man's head against the table again. "_Tell me._"

But this time, Kyuubi's grin had disappeared and turned into a frown. "Because I wanted you to feel the pain I felt when I lost…_her._"

Sasuke growled, then shoved the chained tyrant to the floor and turned away. "You're hopeless."

That was when Kyuubi started chuckling again, and he muttered to himself.

"_Thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's a police officer…kid got what he deserved, anyway…"_

In an instant, the raven had heard this and lunged towards the monster, holding him up by his shirt collar against the wall.

In fact, he had been so furious that even the guards had had to keep a close distance behind Sasuke.

The Uchiha growled. "What the hell did you do to him, you bastard!"

But the tyrant only laughed. "Fuck you."

The raven hissed and banged the man's head against the wall again. "No. Fuck _you."_

Kyuubi chuckled again.

The raven hissed. "Did you kill him?"

No response.

"I _said_, did you kill him, you asshole?"

Silence.

Sasuke sighed. This guy wasn't talking anytime soon. But that was when he remembered…

"You don't know what really happened to Okami, now do you?"

That immediately shut the tyrant up. "What the hell are you talking about, you brat?"

At that moment, the raven was appalled by this. And then he began to tell Kyuubi what Naruto had told him about that night: how the ANBU had thought that Okami had been a witch…the terrible decision Naruto's father had been forced to make…how Konoha had been put at risk.

"_He _cared for you," Sasuke told Kyuubi, whether he listened or not. "He actually felt bad for you and thought you had a chance at being your old self again. He wanted to help you before—he wanted to change your fuckin' heart, damn it!" He winced as he pictured the blonde's face in his mind.

And still—the tyrant wouldn't listen. More or less…he just didn't want to believe it. "Well…isn't that nice of him?" He chuckled darkly.

This time, the raven loosened his grip on the man.

Kyuubi smirked. "Heh. But even so…I couldn't care less for the kid. And I'm not telling you _shit _about where the hell he is. Might as well be dead anyway. But either way, I'm gonna be with her soon up there."

But almost immediately, the Uchiha caught the man in a chokehold and twisted his arm, which actually made the tyrant gasp.

"Oh, _no,_" Sasuke spoke coldly. "Like _hell _you're gonna end up there." And he tightened his grip on Kyuubi's neck, which made the tyrant cry out and the guards begin to pull the two away.

"You're gonna burn in hell like the bastard you are!" the raven cried out as the guards dragged Kyuubi out of the interrogation room.

Sasuke broke out of the guard's hold and found himself slammed against the interrogation door.

"Burn in hell!" he screamed through the now open window.

~o~

After a few minutes, the raven sat quietly in the interrogation room with his legs curled up and his face buried in his knees.

That was when he felt someone approach him.

Sasuke slowly raised his head to see a tall brunette with long hair and gray eyes.

Neji Hyuga.

Neji paused, then extended a hand out to the Uchiha. "You dropped this."

The Uchiha paused for a long moment, then noticed the dagger in the Hyuga's hand and took it.

"Hn. Thanks."

It was quiet again between the two of them.

Then Neji spoke again in a soft tone. "He really was your best friend, wasn't he?"

The raven was silent.

The Hyuga stared at Sasuke with sad eyes. "He cared for you, too. You should know that."

"Hn," the raven muttered.

The brunette paused. "…as in he actually had _feelings _for you—you know, as if his world revolved around you. He always did put you as his top priority."

Sasuke was silent, his eyes widening.

"Even at the very end…" He closed his eyes and walked around the Uchiha to step out of the interrogation room to join the other guards.

When the door slammed, the raven looked up with sad eyes.

~o~

On August 18, 1933, Norbert Kyuubi was hanged in public. He was declared guilty of all charges thrown against him, and paid the ultimate price.

However, this still didn't satisfy Sasuke Uchiha because he had failed to find his blonde friend.

And he had begun to believe…that he really was no longer alive.

Again, the raven heard his laughter ringing through his ears as he walked down the street. And he remembered his sapphire eyes…and that stupid, happy-go-lucky grin…

"_We're friends, right?"_

"_I want to change the world…one heart at a time."_

The Uchiha winced and slightly tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand.

"_You're more than a friend to me now. I knew that…from the moment I met you."_

Sasuke couldn't help but bite his lip as he continued to walk down the street.

"_Can you promise that I'll see you again…alive?"_

The raven stopped walking and closed his eyes, clutching the dagger.

"_Yeah."_

"Dobe, you liar…" the Uchiha muttered to himself.

Suddenly, he heard a loud honking noise coming in his direction as well as the screeching of tires.

And then a crash.

But when he looked up, everything was a blur…except for what looked like a flash of yellow.

And before Sasuke even realized it, he was lying on the sidewalk again at the side of the road.

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

Dramatic way to close this chapter, huh? ~wO Hope you all got what I was getting at with the "flash of yellow." XD

Ah, what else? Kyuubi got what he deserved… -.-" And…yeah. The next chapter will finally be the end of this story. ^_^ So stay tuned for that. ^w^ And I can tell you now—it _will _be interesting AND fluffy, as promised. ^.^ and…*sniffs* What's that I smell? *sniffs again* Citrus? XD

Yeah…stay tuned for the next and FINAL chapter~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

_*****As usual, reviews would be appreciated muchly. ^~^ Salamat!*****_


	17. Chapter 17: Reunion

_**Chapter 17: **__**Reunion**_

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

We have reached the final chapter of this story… X3

Guys, hope you all enjoy. ^~^ And **another note**-_awesome SasuNaru pics on my LJ that fit with this story... ^_^_

Thank you all for reading my fic~! =^w^= And I hope that you get to read my other stuff, too! ^^"

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

*Oh—right. XD Almost forgot. ^^" Yeah, I know—how _could _I? *slaps forehead* Happy Birthday to Sasuke...tomorrow! ^w^

~o~

Everything had been a blur in the past few minutes.

Sasuke Uchiha had been absent-mindedly standing out in the middle of the street when suddenly, he had heard a loud honking sound, the screeching of tires, and a crash. When he had looked up, he was surprised to see what looked like a flash of yellow and himself being pushed off to the sidewalk by someone unknown at the moment.

And now he lay breathlessly on the sidewalk.

~o~

The raven winced as he began to raise his head.

What the hell just happened?

That was when he noticed what looked like a truck—a _large _truck, to be specific—literally smashed up into a nearby telephone pole on the other side of the street, and there had also been a few people watching him with wide eyes.

This made Sasuke's eyes widen as well. How the hell did he miss _all that?_ A speeding _truck_, for God's sake…

But something made the Uchiha stiffen.

It seemed that he had not been alone when this event had happened—for someone bold enough had actually gone so far as to push the raven out of the truck's path.

That person was now lying next to Sasuke himself, panting and breathing heavily.

And when the Uchiha had turned to see who had just saved his life, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped in astonishment.

It was a man, leaning down on the sidewalk on his hands and knees. He looked no older than the raven but maybe a year younger. A man…with caramel-tan skin and bushy blonde hair.

And whiskers on both of his cheeks.

Sasuke's face instantly became rigid. _It can't be…_

Suddenly, the blonde let out a sigh. "Phew…" Then he shifted his eyes towards another part of the sidewalk, where he noticed a small, sky blue dagger lying on the ground. He reached for it, gingerly holding the shiny object in his hand. And his eyes softened when he saw two familiar turtledoves of ivory dancing at the hilt.

But at that moment, the Uchiha could only sit where he was, with a stunned expression on his face.

That was when the latter finally spoke. And his voice sounded familiar to the raven—_very _familiar.

But it was a bit deeper now than Sasuke had remembered…

The blonde let out another sigh, and started shaking his head. "_Geez, _teme—I asked you to go change the world with this thing—not to frickin' get yourself killed out here."

The raven was silent.

The latter slightly raised his head towards the Uchiha, revealing his intent cerulean eyes. "I mean, couldn't you have waited for me a _little _bit longer, you bastard?"

At that very moment, Sasuke gasped and his eyes literally bulged.

Those eyes…like two pools of sparkling sapphire…like the ocean he'd always wanted to dive into ever since he was little…

He shrank back, searching for the right words. But right now…he could only speak in a hushed tone.

"No way…"

The blonde froze, then slowly looked up at the raven with confused eyes. But suddenly, that confusion faded away, replaced with happiness and a big, happy-go-lucky grin.

And before the Uchiha even knew it, he was already caught in the most comforting embrace he'd felt in…eleven years. Yet he still couldn't believe it.

Until he heard the latter chuckle over his shoulder.

"It's good to see you, too…Sasuke."

That was it. In an instant, the raven lost all thought, wrapping his arms around the person he knew he was seeing at that very moment, making that this time he was real and not an illusion.

He sighed into the blonde's mussy hair, soft as it had been before. "Is it really you, dobe?"

But the only response he got was a wave of laughter.

"I'm not a _dobe, _damn it!"

This made the raven smirk. This…was definitely the person he'd been waiting for after all these years—the best friend he'd made at the ranch of Norbert Kyuubi.

The one who'd changed his heart—and wanted to change the rest of the world.

~o~

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke in a calm voice, raising his head up from his pillow.

At that moment, the blonde was contemplating as he stared out the raven's bedroom window—and the two of them had been like this for a while ever since the raven had taken the latter to his apartment.

"Hm?" Naruto replied absent-mindedly.

The Uchiha paused for a minute, staring at the blonde with a stoic countenance. "Is something bothering you? You've never been this quiet."

There was a long pause. "No."

Sasuke didn't buy it and sighed. "_Dobe._"

"All right, all right," the latter replied, turning his head away from the window.

Another moment of hesitation.

Then the blonde exhaled sharply. "I heard…what they did to _him,_" hespoke in a soft tone.

In that instant, the raven knew who he was talking about. "Yeah. ...Kyuubi."

Naruto was silent.

That was when the Uchiha remembered what the latter had told him eleven years ago.

Sasuke stiffened. He'd been his godfather, tyrant or not. And he'd wanted to change _his _heart, too…

The blonde's eyes became dull. "I failed…to change his heart. I was too late."

"Dobe, it's not your fault. You can't blame yourself for what happened."

The latter winced. "But I…"

The room suddenly became awkwardly silent again.

Sasuke's eyes softened. At that moment, he knew there was something else bothering his friend on the inside—especially after looking into the dullness of his eyes. From how things looked, it didn't seem that it was really Kyuubi the blonde was so concerned about, for a different haze filled his eyes now.

…but what could it be?

Suddenly, the raven froze. _It couldn't have been…_

"Naruto."

The blonde stirred, then slightly raised his head towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke hesitated, then pursed his lips, searching for words.

"What happened that night…after I left you?" The raven's voice faltered a little on those last few words.

The latter was silent for a long moment. And he winced as he began to recall every single thing that had happened that fateful night.

"Dobe?" the Uchiha asked with soft eyes.

But he'd try to tell him in as simple a way as possible. Naruto closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. Then he began his story in a quiet tone.

Somehow, he'd been able to explain in detail the merciless torture he'd been put through…how Kyuubi had been about to kill him…and how Kit had miraculously jumped out from out of the blue to protect him, giving him a chance to escape into the woods. And that whole time, Sasuke's face had become rigid.

The blonde shuddered, looking at the floor. "But even though all that happened…I still thought I was gonna die out there in the forest. And I was ready, too." His voice faltered.

The raven's eyes softened.

"But someone saved my life," Naruto went on. "A man named Iruka found me in the deepest part of the forest…half-dead." He paused for a minute. "He carried me to his home outside another part of the forest and took care of me as if I were his own son. And Mr. Umino…he was like a second father to me, too."

The Uchiha stared at the blonde expressionlessly.

The latter sighed. "That's pretty much where I'd been after that." There was a long pause, and he held his breath. "But I never forgot about you or the others. I couldn't…"

Sasuke was silent.

The blonde went on. "Later on, I tried to find you and looked for you on the Konoha countryside to see if you were all right…if you saw your family again. Mr. Umino helped me find your house, since he used to live in Konoha, too, before everyone started moving away." He paused for a moment. "But when I thought I'd finally found you, the house had already been empty." His voice wavered.

The raven stiffened, remembering what Neji had said before.

"_He cared for you, too. You should know that."_

The Uchiha closed his eyes.

Naruto gulped. "But I still didn't stop looking for you. I couldn't keep you out of my mind…you were my best friend, damn it!" He buried his face in his hands and held his breath. "That was when I finally found Neji on the far side of Konoha. And he'd told me you'd moved away—far, _far _away…"

Sasuke's face now held a pained expression.

"_He actually had feelings for you—you know, as if his world revolved around you. He always did put you as his top priority. Even at the very end…"_

The blonde sighed. "And after a while…I finally gave up." There was a sniffle. "I started thinking…that maybe you'd already forgotten about me…about the promise we made together before. And pretty soon…_I_ wanted to move away from it all and forget about it."

Hurt and sadness filled the raven's eyes. "Naruto, I…"

Suddenly, the blonde whipped his head up and rose from the windowsill, glaring at the Uchiha. "And lo and behold, I _did _convince Mr. Umino to move! To frickin' Los Angeles, California!" He furiously started waving his hands.

Pin filled the Uchiha's heart when he began to see tears stream down the latter's cheeks.

The blonde growled. "And I became a goddamn _lawyer, _thinking that maybe you'd forgotten everything we'd been through together—thinking I was the only one who could possibly change the world now! I even thought I'd never see your sorry face again!" He let out a sob and buried his face in his hands.

Sasuke's face became rigid, and he immediately stood up from the bed to approach the latter.

Naruto went on in a shaky tone. "But...one day, I see a goddamn idiot just standing out there in the middle of the road, spacing out for God knows what. And because I'm such a good person, I go out of my frickin' way only to see that I was saving my best friend's ass from getting fuckin' killed by a goddamn _truck!_" His hands began to tremble. "And now, I still think to myself—just _what the hell _you were doing out there trying to—"

He was suddenly cut off by a pale finger on his lip. The blonde paused, then looked up to see his best friend with a pained countenance. He stood there, frozen.

Hurt filled the raven's eyes. "Naruto…" He paused, then held the blonde close so that his head rested on his chest. He leaned down by the latter's ear and spoke in a soft tone. "I never did forget about you."

The blue-eyed boy was silent.

Sasuke chuckled weakly. "You dobe. What kind of Uchiha would I be if I _didn't_ keep a promise—more or less, forget a _friend?_"

Naruto sniffled, angry tears still running down his cheeks.

The raven paused. "I didn't choose to move away just so I could forget everything. I did that just so I could keep that promise."

The blonde froze.

The Uchiha went on. "I came here after hours of studying and hard work to get a job in the LAPD because I thought it would be my own way to help change the world like you wanted to. I did all this for _your _sake. _And _I looked for you all that time after you'd gone missing..." He paused. "Even if I did want to, I still wouldn't be able to forget a dobe like you."

The blue-eyed boy was silent.

Sasuke held his breath, then exhaled sharply. "Oh, dobe…I thought you were dead. After all these years, I thought I lost you…"

Naruto's eyes widened.

The raven's breath wavered a little. "I never stopped looking for you once, even then."

At that moment, the blonde felt the Uchiha cringe under his arms and his face tighten.

Naruto's eyes softened. "Teme, I…"

He was cut off when he felt cool lips being pressed against his.

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise.

Suddenly, the raven pulled back, his face rigid. "I'm sorry. I almost forgot how uncomfortable you'd must have been when Kyuubi—"

He was cut off when he was abruptly pulled forward, his lips mashing against warm, tan ones.

Then, the blonde briefly pulled back to whisper something in the Uchiha's ear. "It's okay. This time…I know what I want to do." He paused, then pressed his lips against Sasuke's again, rolling his tongue under his.

The raven closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

And from that point, all thought was lost when the Uchiha abruptly pressed Naruto against the wall and slowly slid a hand beneath the latter's white shirt, kissing him softly from the bottom of his neck downwards.

The blonde let out a low moan in response as he felt Sasuke's tongue run into his mouth and his cool, immobilizing breath against his skin. He mewled, then clumsily began unbuttoning the raven's navy blue polo…

~o~

The moon was now high in the sky, and the blonde, wearing a tank top and boxers, lay on his stomach in front of the windowsill, holding his treasured dagger in his hand.

Moments later, the raven joined him and sat next to the latter, watching as his best friend gazed up at the bright stars that decorated the night sky.

And behold, there were but two that still continued to outshine the others.

Sasuke's eyes softened.

Naruto sighed and looked down at the dagger, scrutinizing the two turtle doves that danced at its hilt. Then he spoke in a soft tone. "Sasuke?"

"Hn." The raven turned to face the blonde.

The latter paused for a moment. "Are we really gonna be able to change everyone's hearts?"

The Uchiha stiffened, caught off-guard by the comment.

The blonde went on. "I mean, now that you think of it, there's so many…" He turned to face the raven with concerned eyes.

It was silent for a moment.

Then suddenly, Sasuke let out a sigh. "Dobe. If there's one ridiculous habit I picked up from you after you went and _changed_ my frickin' heart, it would be looking up at this sky every now and then. And after all those years of just staring at it…I finally realized something that I'd wanted to tell you even before."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Hn." The Uchiha paused and turned to look up at the sky. "I realized…that maybe it wasn't so unfair that the Sun didn't shine for every place in the world at the same time." He shifted his eyes towards the two unique stars. "They're the reason why." He paused again. "And that's not all. Look at the rest of the stars…and even the moon—giving off their own light while the Sun's off shining somewhere else."

The blonde's eyes softened.

The raven smirked. "So to this day, I started thinking that even in the deepest darkness there is…there's always a chance that you'll find at least the smallest amount of light—or hope, as you might put it." He chuckled. "That's why I think…that you should stop worrying already. It's not like you're going to be the only one trying to change the world here…"

Sasuke sighed and turned to face the latter.

But to his surprise, Naruto was already smiling that stupid, happy-go-lucky grin.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The blonde laughed. "I see that I've taught you well. Eh, teme?"

At that moment, a smirk appeared on the raven's face. "Hn. _Dobe._"

The latter laughed again.

Then after a while, he turned to face his best friend, his ocean blue eyes sparkling under the moonlight.

At that moment, Sasuke's eyes softened, and before he knew it, he felt himself leaning towards the blonde, their lips meeting yet again.

Then the raven let out a sigh and briefly pulled back an inch from the latter's tan, whiskered face, whispering softly in his ear.

"I love you...Naruto."

At first, the blonde trembled as he felt the Uchiha breathe against his ear, but soon after, he couldn't help but smile, warmly embracing his best friend—no—his _soul mate. _

Naruto chuckled against Sasuke's shoulder. "I've always loved you…Sasuke."

The raven couldn't help but chuckle lightly to himself.

And for the first time in a long time, he truly felt…_happy_.

~o~

_The dawn is breaking__  
A light shining through  
You're barely waking  
And I'm tangled up in you, yeah_

_I'm open, you're closed_  
_Where I follow, you'll go_  
_I worry I won't see your face_  
_Light up again_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the wrong words seem to rhyme_  
_Out of the doubt that fills my mind_  
_I somehow find you and I collide_

_I'm quiet you know_  
_You make a first impression_  
_I've found I'm scared to know_  
_I'm always on your mind_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the stars refuse to shine_  
_Out of the back you fall in time_  
_I somehow find you and I collide_

_Don't stop here_  
_I lost my place_  
_I'm close behind_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the wrong words seem to rhyme_  
_Out of the doubt that fills your mind_  
_You finally find you and I collide_

_You finally find you and I collide_  
_You finally find you and I collide_

***~**_**Wakas~***_

~o~

**Notes from the KIT-chan~**

As promised—the fluffiest I could make it. ^w^ And I must say—even I was touched when I was writing all this. TwT

But this…is the end. *bows* And I thank you all for taking the time to read my fic. ^_^ …especially the extremely dedicated ones who stayed up until like 2:00 in the morning to read this. X"D But yeah—thanks. *bows again* ^_^

A little **FYI** before I close this story… XD

_Wakas _is Tagalog/Filipino for _finish—_you know, like _owari _for some of you. ^w^

The lyrics at the end are from a song called **"Collide"** by **Howie Day**. (which I also don't own along with Naruto and Changeling. XD)

'Nother reminder for **_awesome SasuNaru pics on my LJ. _**Yeah...tried posting them here, but it was yet another epic fail. XD

Okie? ^w^ All righty then! *waves* Farewell, loves—and thanks yet again for reading this fic! I really hoped you all liked it. ^_^

*Just for those of you who are er…curious/still itching for more… ^^" I'm going to be taking a short break, so that means no updates for a while. n.n" But if you still feel like reading more SasuNaru…I suggest reading the other multi-chapter fic I started a month ago. XD It's called **"I'm Sorry" **and I must warn you—it's also bittersweet… TwT But yeah—that's the next fic I'm aiming to update as soon as my brain recovers—which may be _soon_. XD Just letting you all know… ^^"

:sigh: Till then, everyone—ja ne~! ^~^

.::.*~Kitsune~*.::.

_*****As usual, reviews would be appreciated muchly. ^~^ Salamat!*****_


End file.
